Russia blanks China at Fed Cup

MOSCOW, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Russia completed a 5-0 sweep of China Sunday in Moscow and advanced to the Fed Cup semifinals in April.

Russia clinched the best-of-five matchup when the duo of Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova topped Zi Yan and Tiantian Sun 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Also Sunday, with Russia holding a 4-0 advantage, Anna Chakvetadze beat Zi 6-1, 6-2.

"I'm happy with the way I played (but) hopefully I'll get my confidence back and start to play better tennis," Chakvetadze, the women's 19th-ranked player, said after her easy victory.

Team captain Shamil Tarpischev decided to use Chakvetadze instead of Dementieva in the final singles match.

Russia, the two-time defending Fed Cup champion, had built a 2-0 lead Saturday after singles victories by Dementieva and Kuznetsova, and will try to claim a fifth Fed Cup title in six years in the semifinals in April against Italy, which topped France.