Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev and Elena Dementieva said that lack of practice contributed to Russia's 3-2 loss to the U.S. in the Fed Cup semis. Tarpischev and Alla Kudryavtseva didn't arrive in Alabama until Thursday.
"We only had three players. We didn't have a chance to even practice doubles combination," said Dementieva, who lost the deciding doubles match with partner Kudryavtseva. “So it's very hard to go into the doubles match. Liezel [Huber] and Bethanie [Mattek-Sands] are high ranked in the doubles. We were hoping to win the singles matches and not to go into the doubles."—M.C.