Davenport Leads U.S. Into Semis

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 19, 1998 / 7:25 PM EDT / CBS Sportsline

Lindsay Davenport put the finishing touches on a masterful performance by the United States, crushing Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-2, Sunday to seal the first-round Fed Cup victory.

The United States clinched the best-of-five series, 3-0, and overwhelmingly avenging last year's shocking first-round loss to the Netherlands. In the semifinals, the U.S. will face four-time champion Spain, which pulled out a 3-2 victory over host Germany in Saarbrucken. In the 1996 final, the U.S. swept Spain, 5-0, for a record 15th Fed Cup title.

With the semifinal berth secured, the singles match between American Monica Seles and Amanda Hopmans and the doubles match pitting Americans Mary Joe Fernandez and Lisa Raymond against the Dutch duo of Caroline Vis and Manon Bollegraf were rendered meaningless.

Davenport, who was not chosen by former captain Martina Navratilova to play on the team that lost to the Netherlands last year, improved to 21-2 lifetime in Fed Cup play. The highest-ranked American player in women's tennis, Davenport has been a member of the U.S. Fed Cup team since 1994 and played on the 1996 title-winning team captained by Billie Jean King, who returned this year after a one-year sabbatical.

Oremans was counted on heavily after her country's top player, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, pulled out with a back injury. But Oremans showed she was not adept at playing on the slow clay used at the Kiawah Island Golf and Tennis Resort, falling to Seles Saturday by the same 6-1, 6-2 score.

After splitting their singles matches Saturday, Andrea Glass pushed Spain to the brink of elimination by handing Fed Cup veteran Conchita Martinez her second loss in as many days, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. But Magui Serna forced the fifth and deciding match by dispatching Germany's Jana Kandarr, 6-3, 6-4.

Martinez and Serna then teamed up to defeat the German tandem of Glass and Wiltrud Probst, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), as Spain survived a scare from an undermanned German team that was playing without its top two players, Steffi Graf and Anke Huber, both nursing injuries.

Defending champion France, playing without fifth-ranked Mary Pierce, also needed a decisive fifth match to hold off host Belgium, 3-2, in Gent. Entering Sunday's play even at 1-1, Dominique van Roost gave Belgium the lead by outdueling Sandrine Testud, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7), in a battle of top-20 players. But Sarah Pitkowski, playing in her first Fed Cup, leveled the series by rallying past Belgium's Sabine Appelmans, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

But France pulled out the victory as the French duo of Nathalie Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai disposed of Els Callens and Laurence Courtois, 6-4, 6-0.

France, which posted a 4-1 victory over the Netherlands in last year's final, will take on Switzerland in the semifinals. The Swiss team, spearheaded by top-ranked Martina Hingis, pulled away for a 4-1 victory over Jana Novotna and the host Czech Republic in Brno.

Hingis, whose mother, Melanie Molitor capains the Swiss team, gave Switzerland a 2-1 lead by winning the showdown with the third-ranked Novotna, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, their first meeting since last year's Wimbledon final. Patty Schnyder, ranked 18th, sealed the Swiss victory by overpowering Adriana Gersi, 6-3, 6-3.

In a match that was rendered meaningless, Hingis and Schnyder teamed up to annihilate Czechs Ludmila Richterova and Denisa Chladkova, 6-1, 6-0.

In Perth, Australia, Russia ousted Australia in their World Group II first-round tie. Russia took an unbeatable 3-0 lead when Tatiana Panova won over Rachel McQuillan 7-6 (7-0), 6-3.

Russia, playing without stars Anna Kournikova and Elena Likhovtseva, dropped the last two matches.

In Foligno, Italy, Italy advanced when it took an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Austria on Francesca Lubiana's win over Sylvia Plischke 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 6-1.