US routs Belarus 5-0 to advance to Fed Cup playoff
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WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP)
Venus Williams returned from a five-month layoff and Serena Williams and Christina McHale won singles matches Sunday, giving the United States a 5-0 thrashing of Belarus in the first round of the Fed Cup.
The Americans head to a playoff in April in hopes of playing their way back into the top tier of Fed Cup after being bounced out last year.
Venus Williams and Liezel Huber completed the rout with a doubles victory, defeating Darya Kustova and Anastasiya Yakimova 6-1, 6-2. This was Williams' first sanctioned match since the opening round of the U.S. Open. She had been diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain and forced her to withdraw from the Open.
McHale won in straight sets for the second consecutive day, beating Darya Kustova 6-0, 6-1 to put the U.S. up 4-0.
Serena Williams had already guaranteed a U.S. victory earlier in the day by defeating Anastasiya Yakimova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Serena blew a 4-1 lead in the opening set and slammed her racket on the court after one point, then returned to form in the next two sets. She didn't allow a point in two straight games of the final set, which she closed with an overhead slam.
''That just goes to show you how frustrate I was out there today,'' she said. ''I haven't done that in a match in a long time.''
Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the Australian Open champion, sat out all four singles matches with a back injury.
Venus Williams' victory almost overshadowed the team victory, which the U.S. players celebrated with a quick parade around the court with the American flag.
In the first round of World Group play, Russia beat visiting Spain 3-2; Serbia won 3-2 at Belgium; Italy downed visiting Ukraine 3-2; and the Czech Republic won 4-1 at Germany.
Although a U.S. victory was assured after the first singles, most of the 2,279 fans at Worcester's DCU Center stuck around through another round of singles to see Venus play. It was barely two hours before Super Bowl kickoff and for those fans, Venus' comeback trumped seeing the start of the New England Patriots' game against the New York Giants.
Fans crowded the entrance to snap photos as she strolled onto the court. One fan shouted, ''Welcome back, Venus!'' after warmups. That was followed by a loud round of applause and some foot-stomping when she and Huber returned from the bench to open the match.
Williams served first and after hitting her first attempt long, she delivered a winner on her second to start her comeback with a 15-0 lead. Williams faltered briefly the next time she served, falling behind love-40 then rallied with Huber to win the next four points then clinching the game with an ace.
Belarus won the first two games of the second set, then Williams and Huber reeled off six straight, ending it with Williams holding serve.
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