By Richard Pagliaro
(April 26, 2010) The doubles duo of Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands proved to life savers for Team USA again in clinching a 3-2 conquest of Russia to send the Americans into their second straight Fed Cup final.
The United States will host defending Fed Cup champion Italy in the November 6-7th Fed Cup final, which is a rematch of the 2009 final Italy won, 4-1, on red clay.
Before the immediate euphoria had time to fade, U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez was asked if she planned to keep the core of this team — Fed Cup heroine Mattek-Sands, No. 1 singles player Melanie Oudin and World No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber — intact for the November final.
Fernandez, who has pushed all the right buttons in leading the USA to two Fed Cup finals in her two-year tenure as captain, offered a diplomatic answer.
"I think everybody on this team wants to enjoy this victory. We have time before the next final," Fernandez said. "Our main goal is to win. So we will put together the best team possible to win the final. That's what we always do with every single tie."
Mattek-Sands fought off Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in two hours, 34 minutes to level the Fed Cup semifinal tie with visiting Russia, 2-2, in Birmingham on Sunday.
Following a half-hour pit stop to tape her blistered feet, refresh her body with alternating hot and cold showers and refuel with food, Mattek-Sands returned to the court and partnered Liezel Huber to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva that clinched the USA's 3-2 victory sending the Americans into their second straight Fed Cup final.
The doubles win came nearly a year to the day after Huber and Mattek-Sands fought off a match point in dispatching Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke, 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 to lift the USA to a 3-2 victory over the host Czech Republic in the 2009 Fed Cup semifinals last April.
Much of the pre-semifinal talk in Birmingham revolved around players who were MIA. Neither Venus nor Serena Williams, who are both recovering from injuries, played in the semifinal.
Russia, which was limited to three players after scheduled fourth player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova could not make the trip to the U.S. due to travel limitations in the aftermath of the Icelandic volcanic eruption, has 11 women ranked in the top 50, but only one, Dementieva, was present in Birmingham.
That fact highlights how depth and timing can be so important to Fed Cup success. Fernandez praised her players for delivering the third 3-2 comeback victory in Fernandez's five ties as captain.
"I have so much faith in this team right here. This has been my team," Fernandez said. "This is our core group. We're going to keep working with that."
The comebacks are a testament to her team's conviction, resilience and spirit — qualities the captain clearly relishes and wants to retain.
That said, the fact that the USA, which has not won the Fed Cup since 2000, is now one win from capturing its record-extending 18th Fed Cup championship, it seems certain Fernandez will make the call to both Venus and Serena between now and November.
To add one or possibly both top 10 veterans who have played on a Fed Cup championship team in the past — the Williams sisters and Lindsay Davenport led the USA to a 4-1 victory over a Russian squad that included Dementieva and Makarova in the 1999 final in Stanford — would give the Americans a huge edge over what is primarily a two-player Italian team built on Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone.
The fact that Fed Cup ties are so spread out over the course of the season could help Fernandez's decision making process in that one or more of the current starters, or the Williams sisters, may not be healthy by the time November rolls around.
Fernandez can create the best of both worlds and keep this current group intact and add Venus, whose last Fed Cup tie came in a 3-2 semifinal loss to Russia in Moscow in 2007, or Serena, who is 7-0 lifetime in Fed Cup play with her last appearance coming in the 2007 quarterfinals in Delray Beach, giving her team both a Grand Slam champion and the much-needed star power necessary for the USTA to sell tickets for a larger venue.
Mattek-Sands only had a half hour to prepare for the decisive doubles on Sunday. Her captain has six months to set her roster and wisely realizes time is not only on her side, it may actually factor in the decision-making process.
"We'll see. There's a lot of time to go," Fernandez said. "Hopefully everybody here is going to be healthy and we're going to give it our best against Italy to get a little revenge."