Despite One Big Surprise, U.S. Rolls to Fed Cup Title

When it came down to it, you could predict the outcome of the Fed Cup final between Russia and the United States by merely hearing the first names of the competitors:

Lindsay, Venus, Serena and Monica vs. Elena, Elena and Elena.

What spoke volumes was that newly crowned U.S. Open champion Serena Williams--or as she likes to write, Serena Serena Serena--was not ranked highly enough for singles duty this weekend at Stanford University.

A victory was a foregone conclusion. After second-ranked Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach clinched it Sunday by defeating No. 17 Elena Likhovtseva, 6-4, 6-4, the biggest question was whether the Russians would win a set.

That was answered stunningly.

The malaise of Venus Williams continued with an unexpected loss to 68th-ranked Elena Dementieva, as she squandered a 4-1 third-set lead and a match point. The talented, hard-hitting Russian teenager secured the biggest victory of her career, defeating Williams, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

Venus and Serena Williams made the final score, 4-1, by defeating Elena Makarova and Dementieva, 6-2, 6-1, in doubles. This is the 16th Fed Cup title for the United States and first since 1996.

How could it have been more competitive?

“I don’t know,” Likhovtseva said, smiling. “They are very good, and they can beat any team, 5-0. We can’t borrow any players from them, right?”

This was before the 17-year-old Dementieva started blasting the ball for winners in the second and third sets. Williams committed 20 of her 40 unforced errors in the third. In all, Dementieva had 21 unforced errors.

“Any match is a match that you want to win,” said Williams, who had been decidedly downcast since her semifinal loss to Martina Hingis at the U.S. Open.

“Today I was just working on doing my best to come in a lot more and attack the short balls.”

Said Dementieva, who dropped to her knees on the court in celebration: “It’s difficult to explain what I felt after the game was over. But I was overwhelmed. I was very happy we didn’t lose the match completely.”

The lack of pressure helped the Russian, who turns 18 next month. In 1999, she has gone three sets with other top 20 players--Dominique Van Roost, Amelie Mauresmo and Conchita Martinez--but this was her first major breakthrough. She lost to Hingis in the second round at the Australian Open as a qualifier and Hingis calls her one of the players of the future.

“It wasn’t like I was going to aim to lose the match,” Williams said. “I was up a break and then a lot of things went on, and then I lost.”

Dementieva nearly let it slip away herself. She served for it at 5-4 and hit a forehand in the net on her first match point. Williams broke her in that game and held to go up 6-5 and then had a match point on Dementieva’s serve but netted a forehand return.

Despite the surprising singles loss, U.S. Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King was talking about a potential dynasty, looking at her talent pool. Serena Williams said she planned on playing in 2000, and Seles pledged her support.

“With this format, three out of five matches, this is by far the best team ever,” King said. “It’s not even close.”

This is Davenport’s second Fed Cup title--the other was in 1996. She won both her singles matches in her first action since losing to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

Meanwhile, King said this victory took some of the sting out of last year’s Fed Cup loss to Spain in the semifinals.

“It’s great we brought the Fed Cup back to the United States of America, where it belongs,” she said.