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Seles hands team victory in Fed Cup
Determined to make up for an embarrassing loss to Austria earlier in the year, United States took the first two matches on Saturday in the best-of-five series a
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 08:28 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Springfield, Missouri: There was no controversy and little challenge for the American Fed Cup team this time around. Determined to make up for an embarrassing loss to Austria earlier in the year, the Americans took the first two matches on Saturday in the best-of-five series against Israel, then Monica Seles overwhelmed Anna Smashnova 6-4, 6-0 yesterday to put the United States back into the 16-nation World Group. "It was just like a huge relief I think off all of our shoulders," Seles said. "We knew it was kind of a do-or-die situation here". The Americans, who have won a record 17 Fed Cup championships, lost to Austria after team captain Billie Jean King dismissed Jennifer Capriati in a bitter dispute over practice rules. "We just wanted to win it," Seles said. "I was just very relieved and happy. We had a lot of pressure coming in. After losing to Austria, that was really hard on all of us. It's been such a good week for us, on and off the court." In the second singles match yesterday, Lindsay Davenport beat Tzippi Obziler 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/1), the only time the Americans did not win in straight sets. Appearing to fight her motivation as much as her opponent, Davenport split the first two sets, went down an early break in the third before she broke Obziler's serve and ran out the match. "Lindsay was teasing me when I walked into the tent just now, You know how difficult it is for me to play these matches," King said. (AP)
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
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