France Looks Ahead to Russian Clash
France reached the Fed Cup semifinals for the first time since 1998,
emerging as 4-1 winners against Spain in Oviedo, halting a run of four defeats
against their opponents in Fed Cup play.
The French team continued where they left off on Saturday and quickly
established an unassailable 3-0 lead. French No.1 Amelie Mauresmo clinched
the winning point for France with a gutsy 75 62 victory over Spanish No. 1,
Magui Serna, whom she was facing for the fourth time this year.
Mauresmo trailed for the majority of the first set after Serna broke in the
first game. Serna maintained her advantage and earned a set point, which
Mauresmo saved with a ferocious forehand volley. This proved to be a crucial
moment as Mauresmo then ripped through Serna’s next service game with three
glorious passing shots to draw back level at 5-5. The momentum had visibly
shifted and Mauresmo broke again to take the first set 7- and comfortably
added the second 62.
In the fourth rubber, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro replaced Nathalie Dechy on the
French team to play her first Fed Cup match. She made a brilliant start,
storming to a 5-0 lead, before her opponent, Maria Sanchez Lorenzo battled
back to 5-3. Another break was sufficient for the 20-year-old Frenchwoman
to take the first set and she took the second, courtesy of being the only
player to hold serve in that set, to end up the 63 63 victor.
The greater doubles experience of Virginia Ruano Pascual was evident as
she and Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated the French pairing of Nathalie
Dechy and Emilie Loit 64 64 in the final rubber to avoid a whitewash.
The French captain Guy Forget was obviously pleased with the way the tie
went. “The players did what they had to do today,” he commented
afterwards. “ I was slightly concerned at the start of the third
match but Amelie played very well after a bad start. I was also delighted
with the way that Stephanie played. It’s always nice to be 2-0 up after
the first day and from then on the girls saw that the win was possible.”
France had been the pre-tie favourites and comfortably justified this. The
public of the charming city Oviedo in Northern Spain warmed to the idea of
international tennis and the French contingent certainly made up for their
lack of numbers with their volume. The brand new clay court held up to the
rigours of the event, despite a sudden heavy downpour on the preceding
Tuesday evening, which caused a few anxious moments for the groundstaff.
France move on to the semifinals where will face a strong Russian side, who
completed a comfortable victory over Slovenia. The two sides have met five
times before in Fed Cup, with the Russians holding a 3-2 lead. This will be
tough but “it will be a great tie,” according to Forget. “They are a bit
stronger than we are and we will have to play at least as well, if not better
to win that.”
Spain, on the other hand, will go back to rebuilding a team trying to
emulate the achievements of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez
and will look to regroup and pose a threat in Fed Cup 2004.
--
┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐
│███ ███ ███ █ █ ██◣ ███│
│█▇▇ █▇▇ █ █ █ █ █ █▇▇│
│█▇▇ ▇▇█ ███ ███ ██◤ █▇▇│
╰───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───╯
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 61.70.206.23