Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone led their country to an easy 4-1 win over the Ukraine while U.S. Open darling Melanie Oudin teamed with Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the same score against France. It was much closer in the Czech Republic where the rubbers were tied before Lucie Hradecka secured the win over Anna-Lena Groenefeld and her German doubles partner.
But what was probably the closest match-up came between two big-hitting teams, with a couple of Grand Slam crowns and former #1 players fighting for their country -- some are on the upswing, some are trying to regain former glory, but both were hungry to advance. Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova sought to reclaim their 2008 title in a first round meeting against a Serbian team helmed by Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.

On the other side of the court, Kuznetsova, who won in Paris last year, has carried through with that success for the last several months. And Kleybanova, just twenty years old, has beaten Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Jankovic all in the last twelve months. On paper the Russians would clearly be the favorites.

As it turned out the eventual outcome was as we should have predicted -- Kuznetsova and Kleybanova were nearly flawless in their 6-1, 6-4 victory, reaching the semis for the fourth straight year. They'll meet the U.S. in April for the right to go further, but considering they probably faced the toughest opponent of any of the other three teams to advance, I'd say their chances look pretty good.
In the meantime, I'll turn my attention back to the other grass court. Go Colts!!
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