Well, I guess my research needs a little work when it comes to Fed Cup.  Even though I was pretty sure China would come out on top in their matchup, at home no less, against what seemed like a weaker Spanish team, I was proved extremely wrong.  Spain came out and flat-out dominated China, winning the first three matches to clinch a spot in the Finals, before China’s Jie Zheng finally won a rubber.  And, so much for my comment on China having “the much stronger doubles pairings,” as they were dominated 6-2, 6-1 to finalize Spain’s 4-1 victory.

In Moscow, although the US women fell to the heavily-favored Russians (3-2, although the Russians did clinch after the first 3 mathces, as the Spaniards did), there is definitely a silver lining for the losing team - both young singles players competed extremely well throughout the weekend.  Vania King, 19 years old and ranked 115th in the world, lost in two close sets to 6th ranked Anna Chakvetadze, and pushed world number 14, Vera Zvonareva, to a third set.  Ahsha Rolle, 23 and ranked 145th, was destroyed by Kuznetsova on Saturday, but bounced back to defeat Elena Vesnina, ranked more than 100 spots ahead of Rolle, in straight sets on Sunday.  Finally, King paired with Doubles World # 1 Liezel Huber to win the final rubber. 

As some of the higher ranked American women scale back from Fed Cup competition (something I do not advocate, but understand given the heinous scheduling of Fed/Davis Cups), it is important for the USTA and Zina Garrison, or any future captain, to be able to rely on some lesser ranked/known players to compete and represent Team USA in typical fashion. 

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