Sharapova powers Russia into Fed Cup semi-finals

08 February 2015 05:01

Former world number one Maria Sharapova sent Russia into the semi-finals of the Fed Cup on Sunday as she defeated Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 7-5 to give her country an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The doubles pairing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Vitaliya Diatchenko later made it 4-0 as they beat Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Alicja Rosolska 6-4, 6-4.

Following Sharapova's victory over Urszula Radwanska in straight sets on Saturday, combined with a three set win for veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova over Urszula's sister Agnieszka, Russia cruised into the last four.

French Open champion Sharapova is playing just her fourth Fed Cup tie since her 2008 debut but in order to make the Olympics next year all players have to make themselves available for the annual women's team tournament.

"It is a very important win for me," said Sharapova, who has often been criticised for not playing enough Fed Cup matches.

"Playing for the national team there is always added pressure."

In front of a partisan home crowd of some 15,000, Sharapova, who recently lost the Australian Open final to Serena Williams, improved her record against the world number eight to 12 wins against just two defeats.

Radwanska saved two match points at 2-5 down in the second set to draw level at 5-5 but ran out of steam as five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova closed out the match in 1hr 46mins.

Source: AFP