Dementieva Keys Russia’s Second Fed Cup Title

Elena Dementieva led Russia to its second consecutive Fed Cup tennis title by winning a singles match and teaming with Dinara Safina to win the deciding doubles match in a 3-2 victory over France on Sunday at Paris.

Dementieva and Safina defeated Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, in a doubles match in which both teams were inconsistent, with seven breaks of serve in the first set.

Pierce and Mauresmo dictated the second set as Russia started to look weary. Pierce hit one forehand so hard that Safina’s racket spun from her hand. On the next point, the ball smacked the Russian on the thigh.

“I didn’t try and hit her on purpose,” Pierce said. “Sometimes that happens in tennis, but it was not my goal.”

In the singles matches, Dementieva put Russia ahead by beating Mauresmo, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. It was Mauresmo’s first Fed Cup singles loss since July 2002 and her third consecutive loss to Dementieva.

“I was tired in the third set,” Dementieva said. “Amelie was starting to impose herself, so I had to be aggressive and come to the net more.”

Pierce, who lost to Dementieva on Saturday and was nearly dropped for Sunday’s reverse singles, rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to beat Anastasia Myskina, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The teams were tied, 1-1, after singles matches Saturday.

Russia had defeated two-time champion France, 3-2, in last year’s final at Moscow.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” Dementieva said. “I’m so happy.”

France captain Georges Goven found new respect for Dementieva.

“I knew she was a great athlete,” Goven said. “But this time she was exceptional, gave everything she had and fought until the end.”

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Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport beat Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-2, 6-4, to win the Wismilak International at Bali, Indonesia.

Davenport, playing in the Bali tournament for the first time, broke serve at the start of each set.

In the second set, Schiavone broke to make it 3-3, capitalizing on Davenport’s forehand errors. Davenport won a break point to go up, 5-4, when Schiavone hit a forehand long. The Italian had a chance to even the score in the next game but fired the ball into the net. Davenport served out for the victory.

In the doubles final, top-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Meghann Shaughnessy of the United States beat China’s Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, 6-3, 6-3.

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Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain earned his 10th title this year, beating Guillermo Coria of Argentina, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, in the final of the China Open at Beijing.

In the first set, Nadal lost his serve twice before surging ahead, 5-0, in the second set. Coria had double-faulted on break point, putting Nadal ahead, 2-0. Nadal turned up the pressure with booming serves and crushing shots down the line.

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In a match interrupted for one hour because of rain, unseeded Florent Serra of France defeated Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-3, 6-4, to win the BCR Open at Bucharest, Romania.

Basketball

Slovenia, Spain, Russia and defending champion Lithuania advanced to the quarterfinals of the European Championship in Serbia and Montenegro

Russia (2-1) won Group A at Vrsac despite a 51-50 loss against Germany (2-1), which won on a three-point basket by Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks with 27 seconds to play.

It was the only time Germany led in the game, in which Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz had two costly turnovers in the closing moments.

Nowitzki finished with 24 points and 19 rebounds. Kirilenko had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Jon Robert Holden, a naturalized American-born point guard, had 13 points for Russia.

Nowitzki made two free throws to tie the score, 45-45, but Russia stayed just ahead until Kirilenko slipped on the dribble for a turnover. Nowitzki made two free throws to cut Russia’s lead to 50-48. Kirilenko again slipped and lost the ball and Nowitzki made the winning three-point shot.

Lithuania got 17 points from Simas Jasaitis to beat winless Bulgaria, 92-79, and finish 3-0 in Group B at Podgorica. Croatia (2-1) finished second by beating Turkey, 80-67.

In Group C at Belgrade, Slovenia got 18 points from Jaka Lakovic in a 68-58 win over France (1-2), which was led by Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns, who had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Greece (2-1) finished second in the group by beating winless Bosnia-Herzegovina, 67-50.

At Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro (2-1) beat winless Latvia, 82-67, to finish second in Group D behind Spain (2-1), a 85-77 loser to Israel (2-1).

Jorge Garbajosa scored 21 points and had nine rebounds for Spain, and center Felipe Reyes had 20 points and nine rebounds.

Igor Rakocevic led Serbia and Montenegro with 14 points, and Marko Jaric of the Minnesota Timberwolves had 12 for the reigning world champion.

Soccer

Roberto Mina scored twice, helping FC Dallas clinch a playoff berth with a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake at Frisco, Texas.

Dallas (11-6-9) ended a 10-game winless streak and won for the first time at Pizza Hut Park.

Jamie Watson scored in the 54th minute for Real Salt Lake (5-4-17), which lost its sixth consecutive game.

Miscellany

Olympian Deena Kastor set a an American women’s record for the half marathon with a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 53 seconds in the 28th annual Philadelphia Distance Run.

Kastor, 32, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., eclipsed the previous mark of 1:08.34 established by Joan Benoit (Samuelson) at this event in 1984.

Defending champion Roberto Heras of Spain became the first rider to win the Spanish Vuelta four times, completing an 85-mile ride around Madrid for an easy victory over Denis Menchov of Russia.

Heras finished 4 minutes 36 seconds ahead of Menchov and had an overall time of 82:22:55. His previous victories were in 2000, 2003 and 2004.