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OVIEDO (Spain), July 19: Emphatic singles wins from Nathalie Dechy and Amelie Mauresmo gave France a 2-0 lead over Spain after the opening day of their Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal on Saturday.
Dechy took one hour 36 minutes to overwhelm Magui Serna 6-3 6-4 in the first singles before Mauresmo clinched the second point with an even more brisk 6-3 6-3 victory over Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo in one hour 25 minutes.
Serna made a positive start for the home side, breaking Dechy in her opening service game, but there was precious little else for Spanish fans to cheer about as the Frenchwoman broke back immediately and took what proved to be a decisive 4-3 lead.
In the absence of Conchita Martinez, Serna was Spain’s best hope. But her serve let her down in the second set and after a series of service breaks, Dechy ran out a comfortable winner.
Mauresmo raced into a 3-0 lead at the start of the second singles rubber against newcomer Sanchez-Lorenzo and held on to the break to take the first set with little fuss.
The Spaniard came from an early break down in the second to grab a 2-1 lead but she could not match Mauresmo for power or accuracy and a second straight-sets win for France was rarely in doubt.
CHARLEROI (Belgium): Belgium lead Slovakia 1-0 in their Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal tie on Saturday.
Results: (Belgian names first):
Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Janette Husarova 7-5 6-4
JAKARTA: Germany lead Indonesia 2-0 in their Fed Cup World Group play off tie on Saturday.
Results: (Indonesian names first): Wynne Prakusya lost to Anca Barna 6-4, 0-6, 4-6; Angelique Widjaja lost to Barbara Rittner 4-6, 1-6.
GIFU (Japan): Dual Grand Slam doubles champion Ai Sugiyama posted an easy win over Hanna Nooni to give Japan a 2-0 lead against Sweden on Saturday in a playoff for the Fed Cup tennis World Group.
The 11th-ranked Sugiyama, who won the French Open and Wimbledon doubles with Kim Clijsters of Belgium, powered to a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 victory over the 343rd-ranked Swede.
Earlier in the day, Shinobu Asagoe breezed past Sweden’s number one Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 7-5 to put Japan one up in the best-of-five contest.
Two reverse singles and one doubles match on Sunday will decide who goes through to the world group.
Without Sugiyama, Japan lost to Sweden in a playoff two years ago to be relegated to the Asia-Oceania zone Group One and had to win the qualifying round to advance to the playoff.
Sweden lost to Italy 2-3 in the World Group first round in April, forcing it into the playoff.—Agencies
