(April 25, 2010) A day that featured more than six hours of drama finally reached the point of resolution as Bethanie Mattek-Sands danced around the oncoming ball, ripped a forehand return winner down the line and dropped her Wilson racket in delight.
It was B-Day in Birmingham as Mattek-Sands sent the United States into its second straight Fed Cup final on the strength of successive victories.
Playing with passion and purpose, Mattek-Sands and World No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber swarmed the net in suffocating Russia's Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1 to clinch the USA's 3-2 victory over Russia.
The win came nearly a year to the day after Huber and Mattek-Sands won the decisive doubles match to lift the USA to a 3-2 win over the host Czech Republic in the 2009 semifinals.
Wearing her distinctive red, white and blue knee-high tube socks, the 129th-ranked Mattek-Sands carried the American flag around the court in celebration after carrying team USA into the final.
"First off, let me say it is great playing in the U.S.," Mattek-Sands said. “(The crowd) really helped me pull it out in my singles today."
Mattek-Sands became the first American to win the fourth and fifth matches of a Fed Cup tie as she beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the fourth match to deadlock the United States' Fed Cup semifinal with Russia at 2-2 and set up the dramatic doubles winner-take-all duel at the BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
"It was awesome," Mattek-Sands told the Tennis Channel's Corina Morariu immediately after the match. " was ready to play. I didn't even know who I was playing, initially, (in singles). Liezel fired me up."
Mattek-Sands and Makarova battled for two hours 34 minutes with Mattek-Sands playing daring, declarative tennis for stretches of the final set to earn her second career Fed Cup singles win.
"It's an amazing effort. It really is. It's always tough to have to play back-to-back Fed Cup, singles, doubles," U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez said. 'The good news is that Bethanie is used to it. On a weekly basis, she played doubles and singles. She just played in Charleston. She had a couple days where she had long matches and had to come back out and play the doubles. That was the good news.
The tough part, it was a very physical match, her singles match. 30 minutes is not a lot of time to turn around. But she did a great job trying to eat, trying to stretch, trying to tape everything, getting out there. I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of the whole team. It was a team effort from start to finish."
After a half hour break she spent re-taping her feet to protect blisters, alternating between hot and cold showers and eating, Mattek-Sands returned to the court and paired with Huber in a domineering doubles effort.
"It was a big adrenaline rush," Mattek-Sands said. "I was able to get the crowd behind me. I think that really helped me and was tough for her. I know that's her first Fed Cup, so why not let her feel the wrath of it, being away. You know, I was really pumped, though. I always want to win whether I'm playing singles, doubles, charades, whatever. I think we're all pretty competitive. So I was ready to go."
The United States will host defending champion Italy in the November 6-7th Fed Cup final. The match is a rematch of the 2009 final, which Italy won 4-1. Veterans Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone accounted for four of Italy's five points in a 5-0 sweep of the Czech Republic on the red clay of Rome.
It was the second time in a year Mattek-Sands and Huber clinched an American Fed Cup semifinal victory.
A year ago, the pair fought back from a one-set deficit to defeat Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke, 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 and lift the USA to a 3-2 victory over the host Czech Republic.
The pair were at it again today only this time they gave their opponents no breathing room in playing an oppressive net game. The Americans broke in Russia's opening two service games to collect a 4-1 lead.
Mattek-Sands slammed an ace down the middle to hold for 5-2. Forcing Dementieva deep in retreat with a lob, Huber snuck into net and deposited a drop volley winner to earn set point. The Americans sealed the first set when Mattek-Sands thumped a forehand volley winner.
The USA continues its quest for its first Fed Cup championship since 2000 and its record-extending 18th Fed Cup.
"It was an amazing team effort," said U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez, who has led the team to two Fed Cup final appearances in her two years as captain. "I'm so proud of each and every member of the team. The chemistry is unbelievable and that's why they compete so hard and do so well. To win at home is incredible, to be at home is incredible and we're happy to the final will be at home."