(Prague) Russia won the deciding doubles match on Friday to defeat the United States 2-1 to reach the Billie Jean King Cup final.
Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova defeated the American duo of Shelby Rogers and Coco Vandeweghe in two sets of 6-3, 6-3, after the two nations divided the honors of the two singles matches.
Russia advanced to the final for the first time since 2015, when the competition was called the Fed Cup.
“We feel amazing,” Kudermetova said.
The Russians are aiming for a fifth title and they are now awaiting the winners of the duel between Australia and Switzerland. The final will take place on Saturday at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.
The United States have won this tournament on 18 occasions, but Russia took a 1-0 lead when Samsonova came in from behind to beat Sloane Stephens 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Samsonova smashed Stephens in game five of the final round and once again in game nine. She closed the books on her second game point.
Samsonova, who also defeated Stephens at this year’s Wimbledon tournament, was making her singles debut for Russia. She admitted that she was “a little nervous”.
“I am very happy to have this opportunity. I’m happy with the way the game ended, ”she said.
For Stephens, it was his first loss in this competition since the 2017 final, stopping his winning streak to five.
“It’s a bit disappointing, but overall I didn’t play badly. I made her play better so she beat me, ”Stephens said.
Danielle Collins tied in the semi-final after defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three difficult innings of 6-7 (9), 7-6 (2), 6-2.
The American put the finishing touches after two hours and 42 minutes of play.
“I tried to be as resilient as possible and found a way to win,” Collins said.
In the second set, the two players traded breakages and then won their serve until Collins dominated the tiebreaker.
Collins also got the better of Pavlyuchenkova in their last meeting, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Internatals, in 2019.