U.S. On Verge Of Fed Cup Title
Lindsay Davenport was looking for a little help, and Billie Jean King was more than happy to oblige.
With an assist from Monica Seles, it was enough to put the United States only one win away from yet another Fed Cup championship.
Seles beat Conchita Martinez before Davenport, with some words of advice from King, followed Friday with a win over Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to give the U.S. team a nearly insurmountable 2-0 lead over Spain in the finals of the Fed Cup competition.
The Americans need to win only one of three matches on Saturday to capture the country's 17th Fed Cup title.
"It gives us an unbelievable opportunity to win one of three matches," Davenport said. "Today the pressure was on us to win. Tomorrow, it will be on them."
Seles had an easy time beating Martinez 6-2, 6-3 in the female version of the Davis Cup. But Davenport struggled through a miserable second set and had to regroup to beat Sanchez-Vicario 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
After the second set, Davenport turned to King, the U.S. captain, for some thoughts on how to win her match.
"She's really good about knowing what the players need to hear and when they need to hear it," Davenport said. "I told her, `Now would be a good time to tell me what you think I need to."'
What King thought was that Davenport, the world's No. 2 player, should quit trying to finesse shots down the line and instead concentrate on hitting the ball back the middle with some power behind it.
It worked as Davenport took a 3-1 lead, then withstood a service break to win the last three games of the deciding set.
"She gave me a game plan," Davenport said of King, the six-time captain of the team. "I think that helped. It gave me a very good plan just to focus on."
Davenport can wrap up the second straight Fed Cup title for the American team when she returns to the court Saturday for the first singles match against Martinez.
Seles plays Sanchez-Vicario who she has dominated over the years in the second singles match of the day. A doubles match wraps up the competition on the indoor court at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
Both Seles and Davenport were members of what King called her "Dream Team" last year that beat Russia in the Fed Cup final. That team also included Venus and Serena Williams.
This year's team has Lisa Raymond and Jennifer Capriati in supporting roles, but Davenport and Seles played both singles matches in the semifinals against Belgium and will play all four singles against Spain.
"To defend the title will be a huge satisfaction," Seles said. "We really want to win this one for the team and Billie."
Seles was on the 1998 team that lost in a semifinal match to Spain, which has won five of the last nine Fed Cup titles. It was an experience she didn't want to relive.
"We made the pact then that we were going to win it," Seles said. "Last year we had an amazing team and were a shoo-in to win it. We've got to be a little more careful this time and pace ourselves and I think we've done that."
Seles, who had won 18 of 19 career matches against Martinez, started the final by getting up on Martinez early, thanks to a first serve that she got in 69 percent of the time and some strong baseline play.
Martinez rallied briefly in the second set, but was never really in the match.
"I just think I'm a better player," Seles said when asked about her success against Martinez.
That success also stretches to Sanchez-Vicario, who has beaten Seles only three times in 22 matches. Sanchez-Vicario acknowledged the Spanish team is in trouble heading into Saturday's matches.
"Tomorrow is going to be very difficult for us," Sanchez-Vicario said. "Maybe we have a one in 10 chance."
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