| the
scoop: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24
France, Russia off to easy 2-0 leads
Pierce questionable for final
By Sandra Harwitt, Special to TennisReporters.net
WTA Tour |
Ron Cioffi/TR.net |
| Spain's Maria Snchez Lorenzo, top, was defeated
by Nathalie Dechy. France's Mary Pierce may be out of action
for the week. |
FROM THE FED CUP SEMIS IN MOSCOW
– Rookie Tatiana Golovin got defending champ France off
to a roaring start with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Spain's Anabel Medina
Garrigues, and then veteran Nathalie Dechy stepped up in a big
way, taking down Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday.
The win provided France with a
comfortable 2-0 lead going into the second day of the semifinals
on Thursday. Russia also cruised to a 2-0 lead over Austria in
the other semis here.
It was an uplifting day for France, who lost its top two players
– Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Piece – during the last
week.
"I did some good things,"
Dechy said. "It was good to open the competition this way.
Sometimes for different reasons there are injuries and you don't
have your [top] players. But a good team can bring out other players
and we have a good team to do that."
Sanchez Lorenzo called a trainer to treat a left groin injury
at 4-5 in the second set.
"I expected the girls to
win," said French captain Guy Forget. "I'm happy because
these are the kinds of matches where you're under pressure. On
paper, their rankings are better. For Tatiana, it was her first
live [Fed Cup] match. At the start, they were very tight, but
I'm happy the way they played and came out with wins."
As for Pierce – who's in Moscow – there remains a
slim possibility that she might compete in the final if the team
advances. But, most probably, she will be keeping her place as
team supporter on the bench.
"It's not very optimistic;
it doesn't look too good at the moment," Forget said. "She
is working on her shoulder, but she hasn't played yet. The chances
[she'll play] are very slim but the medical staff will try. But
you cannot send a girl to play a difficult Fed Cup tie knowing
that either her shoulder is weak or she hasn't had enough practice
yet."
Heavily favored Russia embarrassed
Austria, with Svetlana Kuznetsova blowing out the unknown Yvonne
Meusburger 6-1, 6-1 and Anastasia Myskina crushing doubles specialist
Patricia Wartusch 6-0, 6-0. Austria is without its top two singles
players, Barbara Schett and Barbara Schwartz.
"I didn't expect that score
against Wartusch," said Myskina. "It was hard for Patricia.
She's going to quit tennis this year and she was nervous. I tried
a lot not to look at the scoreboard and stay focussed on my game.Svetlana
and I didn't want to lose a single game."
NEW VENUE IS BIG IMPROVEMENT
Kudos to the Russian Tennis Federation for bringing the Fed Cup
to the brand new Krylatskoe Ice Stadium, which is a welcome change
from the old Olympic stadium they conducted the event in last
year.
The stadium was built in an attempt to offer a world-class skating
facility in Moscow to help re-ignite the Russians to the level
their training used to be when they dominated the skating world.
In recent times, many of the talented Russian skaters have been
forced to go abroad – to the US and Canada, primarily –
to train. The building of the stadium is also an integral part
of the Russian effort to prove Moscow to be the perfect city for
the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Fed Cup is one of the first test
runs for the facility as an international sports arena and high
marks seem to be on the report card.
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