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    LONDON, England -- Defending champions Italy and France set up a Fed Cup last-four meeting with sweeping victories in their quarterfinals on Sunday. Russia also had an easy victory, beating Spain 5-0, and will now play the United States -- who took an unassailable 3-0 lead over Belgium in Florida. Italy beat world group debutantes China 5-0, thanks primarily to Tathiana Garbin who overcame a shaky start to beat late stand-in Zhang Shuai 2-6 6-2 6-4. The Italian number one, who had beaten Sun Tiantian 6-4 2-6 6-3 in the opening singles on Saturday, found Zhang, ranked 189 places below her in the world at 212, a tougher opponent than expected. Zhang was standing in for Peng Shuai, who aggravated a hamstring injury on Saturday and had to retire from her rubber against Flavia Pennetta, giving the Italian a 0-6 7-5 3-0 win. Peng was China's top-ranked player at the clay-court tie in Castellaneta Marina, in southern Italy, after world number 17 Li Na was left at home. China's captain Zhang Qi said Li was injured but tennis officials suggested that she and Zheng Jie had been left behind because of a misunderstanding about the qualifying rules for next year's Beijing Olympics. Mara Santangelo, brought into the squad after Francesca Schiavone suffered an abdominal strain, replaced Pennetta in the reverse singles, beating Sun Tiantian 6-4 6-2. She then teamed up with Roberta Vinci to win the doubles against Olympic gold medallist Sun and her compatriot Sun Sheng-nan. With French number one Amelie Mauresmo recovering from appendicitis, Tatiana Golovin admirably filled her shoes, beating Japan's Ai Sugiyama 7-6 6-0 on Sunday as France headed towards a 5-0 win to earn a place in the July 14-15 semifinal in Italy. Golovin, who beat Akiko Morigami 6-2 6-4 on Saturday, struggled in the first set against Sugiyama, losing her serve in the first game and breaking back only when the Japanese number one served for the set at 6-6. The Frenchwoman won the tiebreak 7-3 and ran away with the second set as Sugiyama, a former top-10 player now ranked 27, crumbled. "The first set was very tense. I made a lot of errors but I won it because I was stronger mentally," said the 19-year-old Golovin, who climbed to 18th place in the rankings after winning her first WTA tournament in Amelia Island earlier this month. Nathalie Dechy had beaten Sugiyama 7-5 6-1 on Saturday and Virginie Razzano took her team mate's place in the final reverse singles to beat Morigami 7-6 1-6 6-2. In Moscow, world number five Svetlana Kuznetsova thrashed Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 4-6 6-0 in the first reverse singles to clinch the decisive point for Russia, the 2004 and 2005 champions. After losing the second set, former U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova took complete control in the third, hammering the Spanish number one into submission after one hour 42 minutes. In the final set, Medina Garrigues, who lost in straight sets to Nadia Petrova in Saturday's opener, took time out for treatment on her back and was unable to put up any resistance to Kuznetsova when she returned. Anna Chakvetadze, playing in place of world number nine Petrova, beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6 7-6 6-2 before Petrova and Elena Vesnina dismissed Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Laura Pous Tio 6-1 4-6 6-2 to complete the whitewash. On Saturday, Petrova overcame a slow start to beat Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-4 in the opening singles rubber and Kuznetsova thrashed 66th-ranked Dominguez Lino 6-3 6-2 in 66 minutes. The win kept captain Shamil Tarpishchev on course for a unique double as he can win both the Fed and Davis Cups in the same year after guiding the Russian men to the last four of their competition. Meanwhile, in Florida, Vania King rallied from a set down to give the United States an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the Fed Cup tie over Belgium, following a 4-6 6-4 7-5 win over Kirsten Flipkens. In an unexpected turn of events, it was the 83rd-ranked King, 18, who landed the job of clinching the tie. She was called into the singles in place of Serena Williams, who was benched with an inflammation of the right knee earlier in the day. "It was awesome," King said after the win. "I just went out there and did my thing." The 132nd-ranked Flipkens, who had the trainer on court because of leg cramps after the third game of the third set, had a chance to keep Belgium in the tie when she served for the match at 5-4 in the final set. But King, winning the first Fed Cup singles match of her career against Flipkens, immediately broke back in the 10th game. King finally closed out the match on her second match point with a winning forehand crosscourt passing shot. Venus Williams was scheduled to play Caroline Maes in the inconsequential fourth match, and King and Lisa Raymond take on Tamaryn Hendler and Yanina Wickmayer in the doubles match. |
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Garbin gave Italy a 3-0 winning lead against China in their Fed Cup quarterfinal.
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