MOSCOW, 29 November 2004 — Russia won the decisive doubles rubber yesterday for a 3-2 victory against the defending champions France to win the Federation Cup for the first time.
Vera Zvonareva and Anastasia Myskina beat the French pairing of Marion Bartoli and Emilie Loit 7-6 (7-5) and 7-5 in the doubles to give the Russians their first victory in their fifth appearance in a final. After Tatiana Golovin had beaten Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth rubber to tie the match at 2-2, Russia changed its original doubles line-up, taking out Elena Likhovtseva and replacing her with Myskina, who won both her singles matches. In the first set, both sides struggled to hold onto their serve and with the score at 6-6, a tie-break had to decide the winner. The Russian pair won the tie-break on the first set-point.
In the second set, the Russians broke serve in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. They then held onto their own serve for a 5-3 lead. The French pairing of Marion Bartoli and Emilie Loit however managed to win the next two games. Their comeback however was short-lived as the Russian pairing broke serve again and then held their own to take the second set 7-5 to give the French a first ever defeat in their third Fed Cup final.
In the first rubber of the morning, Roland Garros champion Anastasia Myskina managed a 6-3, 6-4 win against Nathalie Dechy to give the home side a 2-1 lead. The Russian broke Dechy’s serve in the second game of the first set and then held onto her own for the remainder of the set to run out 6-3 winner.
She again managed to break Dechy in the Frenchwomen’s first service game in the second set, but although Dechy broke back, Myskina managed another service break shortly afterward, to which Dechy had no reply.
Myskina said after the match that Dechy’s victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova on Saturday made her more determined not to allow her to come back into the game. “She played a different game to yesterday when she beat Kuznetsova. Nathalie lead 5-4 in the third set (yesterday), maybe if it was 5-5 in the second set (today), it could have gone a different way.
“I was left with little choice, I had to win. If I was nervous or not, there was no difference.”
US Open winner Kuznetsova, who is ranked fifth in the world, could then have won the tie for Russia, with a victory against Tatiana Colovin.
The Moscow-born world No. 27 however managed to keep her adoptive country in the tie with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory.
“It definitely feel really good,” said Golovin. “It was a good match and it proves I can beat the best players. It gives me a lot of confidence to work and also for next year.”
