MOSCOW (AP)—Russia advanced to the Fed Cup World Group semifinals with a 3-2 win over Spain in the first-round series on Sunday.
Svetlana Kuznetsova secured the host an insurmountable 3-1 lead over Spain, beating Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the second reverse singles.
Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova easily won their opening singles on Saturday, but Carla Suarez Navarro narrowed the gap, routing Nadia Petrova 6-0, 6-3 in the first reverse singles on a hardcourt at the Olympic indoor stadium.
The Spanish pair of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja set the final score at 3-2 for Russia when, a set down, the Russian duo of Kuznetsova and Petrova retired in the doubles match because of Kuznetsova’s fatigue.
Russia will host either Belgium or Serbia in the semifinals on April 21-22.
Kuznetsova won four consecutive games in the first set and continued with three more in the second.
But she then lost concentration and Soler-Espinosa won the rest of the games in the second set to stay in the match. The Russian two-time major winner continued to struggle in the third set before Kuznetsova finally broke the Spaniard in the eighth game and served the match out.
Kuznetsova said that support from the home crowd helped to win.
“At such tough moments when you feel bad … nothing is going on on the court, you feel the support from the crowd,” Kuznetsova said. “You play for your country, it motivates you and it helps you to find strength for victory.”
Making her Fed Cup debut, Soler-Espinosa said her main goal in the match was to make Kuznetsova move a lot on the court and got tired in doing so.
“I felt no pressure though it was a decisive game for the Russians,” Soler-Espinosa said. “I tried to win till the very end but Kuznetsova was stronger. We came here to fight and we’ve proved it.”
Suarez Navarro rallied from 40-love in the opening game and won the rest of the games to close the set in 22 minutes. After an exchange of breaks early in the second set, the Spaniard broke decisively in the sixth game and wrapped up the win on her first match point as Petrova netted a forehand
“We were 2-0 down after the first day and I had to (take a) risk to win today,” Suarez Navarro. “Now we have one point. I hope Silvia will also play better today.”
After easy victories on Saturday, Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev replaced Sharapova—the original draw, who felt pain in her right arm on Sunday morning — with Petrova.
Suarez Navarro said she was surprised with the substitution and added that “it was much better for me.”
Petrova, who is 10-5 in Fed Cup matches and last played for Russia in 2009, couldn’t find her rhythm through the entire match. She made 40 unforced mistakes and had only eight winners.
“It’s tough to play at full strength when you are told to step on the court at the last minute,” said Petrova, who was scheduled to play in the doubles match. “Psychologically it’s easier to play when you are tuned for the match. I couldn’t feel my game today.”
Russia has won the Fed Cup title four times since 2004 and is 5-1 against Spain, which won the title five times between 1991 and 1998.