Poles defeat Britain in Fed Cup

Keothavong suffered disappointment in the singles and doubles Great Britain missed out on a place in the Fed Cup World Group II play-offs after losing 2-1 to Poland. Things got off to a winning start when Elena Baltacha beat Katarzyna Piter 6-4 6-1 in the opening singles match. Then, Anne Keothavong lost a tense match 7-6 7-6 against world number nine Agnieszka Radwanska to set up a doubles rubber to decide the match. Keothavong and Sarah Borwell took on Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska, with the Poles winning 7-5 6-3. "This time last year we narrowly avoided relegation, this year we came very close to going up so I'm really proud of all the girls' efforts," said GB captain Nigel Sears. "I really couldn't have asked them to give any more this week. "It's heartbreaking to come so close, the girls played superbly in their singles matches today and we just weren't quite good enough to win the doubles rubber." After edging a tense first set, Baltacha claimed two breaks of serve early in the second to gain the upper hand on the inexperienced Pole. She then held her nerve, despite the distraction of a noisy crowd supporting hosts Estonia against Belarus on the neighbouring court, to win and give Great Britain an early advantage. 606: DEBATE Disappointing result but this match was always likely to come down to the doubles D_Oracle In the next match, Keothavong and Radwanska each managed three breaks of serve in the opening set before the Pole won the tie-break. The second set was a fraught affair, with Radwanska claiming the first break in the seventh game and then holding her serve to go 5-3 up. Keothavong held her serve to force Radwanska to serve for the match, which she failed to do, and the set ended up going to a tie-break again. But despite a heated debate towards the end of it, Radwanska kept her cool to win the match 7-6 7-6, setting up the doubles decider. Keothavong and Borwell broke their more experienced opponents in the fifth game but Borwell was broken back to level the set at 4-4, and another break in the 12th game gave the Poles the opening set. They followed this up by racing to a 5-0 lead in the second set, and despite a mini-revival including saving three match points, the British duo lost it 6-3, and with it the match and the overall tie.

Russia take lead over China

Russia take lead over China:

US draw level with Argentina

AP, MOSCOW,

Feb 8: 2008 Russia took a 2-0 lead against China in Fed Cup competition after Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova won singles matches on Saturday. Kuznetsova defeated Yan Zi 6-2, 6-4, and Dementieva stopped Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-0 on a hard court at Olympic indoor stadium. A win on Sunday would advance Russia to the Fed Cup semifinals. "Our main task was not to relax too much," said Dementieva, who improved her Fed Cup record to 23-8. "We were considered favorites ahead of the match and luckily we managed to keep our concentration throughout the matches." The reverse singles and doubles are scheduled for Sunday. The winner will play France or Italy on April 25-26. Russia have won four Fed Cup titles in the past five years and hasn't lost at home since hosting France in 2003. Away at Surprise, Ariz., favorites Jill Craybas of the United States and Gisela Dulko of Argentina won in straight sets on Saturday to leave the countries tied 1-1 after the opening day of their first-round Fed Cup competition. An admittedly nervous Craybas, the top-ranked player for the U.S. at No. 75 in the world, broke an early 2-2 deadlock in the first set to win 6-2, 6-1 over Betina Jozami. Dulko, the top ranked player in the field at No. 44, scored the final eight points of the match to defeat 17-year-old Melanie Oudin 6-2, 7-5. Craybas faces Dulko and Jozami, ranked 134th in the world, goes against Oudin, ranked 151st, on Sunday in the best-of-five team competition. The final match is a doubles with Julie Ditty and Liezel Huber of the United States going against Soledad Esperon and Aranza Salut of Argentina. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day," U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez said. "…It's probably going to come down to a couple of points. It's going to be who plays a little bit more aggressive when needed." The United States has won 17 Fed Cup titles but none since 2000. Serena and Venus Williams were invited to play this weekend but declined, citing scheduling difficulties. The U.S.-Argentina winner will advance to the semifinals against the winner of the matchup between Spain and the Czech Republic. With the first set at 2-2, Craybas took the point after a long volley that had her making several shots at the net. "What broke it for me was that long point at the net,' the 34-year-old American said. "I ended up winning the point and I started laughing. I think I needed to laugh because I found myself a little bit more relaxed after that." She said she wasn't even sure how she got to the net, but once she was there, she won a close-range duel with her 20-year-old opponent. "Once I got there I just kept guessing literally on every ball," Craybas said. "I ended up guessing right three or four times until I hit the volley winner." Craybas won 10 of the last 11 games to chants of "U-S-A" under mostly cloudy skies at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex in suburban Phoenix. "She made so few mistakes," Jozami said, "not like me. I made so many." Dulko, who lost to Serena Williams in the second round of last month's Australian Open, dominated with her power game early before the young Oudin rallied in a dramatic 10th game of the second set, surviving match point to break the Argentine's serve and tie the set at 5-5. However, Oudin she never scored another point. Dulko finished off the American with three aces in her final game. "Gisela got right on top of me from the very beginning and tried to show me who's boss out there right away," Oudin said. "She played really well at the beginning. I started to kind of get in a groove after getting down 3-0, but it was a little too late." Dulko said she briefly lost her concentration after going up 4-2 in the second set. "At 5-5 I thought 'Just go for it,"' Dulka said. "'Don't wait, because she's not going to give anything."