MOSCOW, Nov 23: Amelie Mauresmo crushed American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2 6-1 to seal a second Fed Cup title for France, who ended up 4-1 winners in the final on Sunday.

The world number four’s victory in the first match of the day gave the French an unassailable 3-0 lead and the second singles match, in which Emilie Loit thumped Alexandra Stevenson 6-4 6-2, and doubles clash were dead rubbers.

After clinching the tie Mauresmo, in tears, ran off court to embrace France captain Guy Forget.

“Yes, I was crying because it was very emotional moment,” the 24-year-old said afterwards. “We were not very lucky in the last couple of years as we have tried very hard but just couldn’t make it, so this is a very big win for us.”

The Americans, who were missing several of their top players, managed to avoid a whitewash when Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond beat French substitutes Loit and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-4 6-0 in the doubles.

The U.S. defeat had ended Navratilova’s unique record of never being on the losing side in a Fed Cup tie, which stretched back to her debut with Czechoslovakia in 1975.

But the 47-year-old, the oldest player ever to compete in the competition, still extended her personal tally of Fed Cup match victories without defeat to 39 with Sunday’s win in the doubles.

With France leading 2-0 after Saturday’s singles matches, in which Mauresmo thrashed Raymond 6-4 6-3 and Mary Pierce beat Shaughnessy 6-3 3-6 8-6, the Americans needed to win all three of Sunday’s rubbers.

But Mauresmo dominated Shaughnessy from the outset, breaking her opponent twice in the first set and three more times in the second to close out the match in just 60 minutes.

“I was really aggressive right from the beginning and didn’t give her many chances,” said Mauresmo, who has won all four of her matches in the semi-finals and final this week.

“Well, we had tougher matches against Russia, but every point was just as important,” said the Frenchwoman, who led her country to a 3-2 win over the host nation in the semis. “Me and Mary both played really well and we deserved this victory.”

Forget became the second person to lead his country to both Davis and Fed Cup titles, repeating the feat of compatriot Yannick Noah.

Noah captained France to their first Fed Cup crown in 1997 when they beat the Netherlands 4-1 in the final. Forget, who first won the Davis Cup as a player in 1991 with Noah as coach, also captained France to the title 10 years later.

The Americans, playing in their 26th final, were chasing a record 18th Fed Cup crown and a disappointed Shaughnessy said she hoped to learn from the defeat.

“I was physically and mentally tired,” said the 24-year-old, who was on court for more than two hours in her match against Pierce on Saturday.

“But this is something I should learn for the future to be able to play every day the way I should, regardless of the match I played before.”

France beat U.S. 4-1 in Fed Cup final

MOSCOW: France beat the United States 4-1 in the Fed Cup final on Sunday.