Nadal unrivaled as Federer falls

Fed Cup heroines King, Golovin, Garbin, Bammer

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Richard Osborn

Vania King sang the "Star Spangled Banner" and belted out a win from the bench.

FAMED
RAFAEL NADAL: Rafa didn't put up just a defensive wall against Roger Federer in taking his fifth consecutive clay-court decision over the Swiss (this time in the Monte Carlo final), he was offensive, too. For the first time since the last set of their '06 Roland Garros final, Federer clearly looked frustrated and downright depressed. Nadal is playing with tremendous confidence once again, thumping his forehand, slapping his backhand, passing brilliantly and locating his serve with precision. The 20-year-old has now extended his record winning streak to 67 matches on dirt, certainly one of the headiest achievements of the Open Era. In Monte Carlo he bullied two men who give him the most problems: Federer and Tomas Berdych. Even though he's downplaying his chances of going undefeated for the rest of the clay-court season, it's hard to think of any man with enough game to stop him when he always seems to be sliding with the confidence of a Ricky Henderson charging toward home plate.

VANIA KING: A hobbled Serena Williams couldn't put her tender knee through two Fed Cup matches in a row. So, in stepped the teenager King as a sub and she pulled off one of the most impressive victories of her career, outlasting Kristen Flipkens 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the US sweep of Belgium. "The whole atmosphere (today), the team cheering me on, then clinching the tie was just a dream come true," she said. Now the hard part comes for captain Zina Garrison: Can she convince the Williams sisters to play at home against mighty Russia just two weeks after Wimbledon?

TATIANA GOLOVIN: With Amelie Mauresmo out with an injury, the French grinder whips Akiko Morigami and Ai Sugiyama to lead France's sweep of Japan. Look for Golovin to play No. 2 when France travels to Italy for the semis.

RUSSIA: By far the deepest Fed Cup team on the planet, Russia takes care of business at home and shuts out Spain behind Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. Now here's the million dollar question: Will Maria Sharapova show up for Russia in her adopted home country of the US and face the Americans in July? Who will sit on the bench if Sharapova is named to the team?

TATHIANA GARBIN: Defending champ Italy's new Fed Cup star beats Tian-Tian Sun and Shuai Zang to lead the home squad over China and back into the semis.

SYBILLE BAMMER: Perhaps the story of the women's season, Austria's favorite mom has no trouble at home on clay against the Aussies.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The most formidable team outside of the World Group takes down arch rival Slovakia with two standout, three-set wins by Nicole Vaidisova and another by Lucie Safarova.

SHAHAR PEER: Israeli is looking a bit stronger now with Top-15 competitor Peer on the team, as she scores two wins over Canada to lead her nation to a playoff victory.

FLAMED
ROGER FEDERER: Three successive Masters Series tournaments has meant three bouts of massive aggravation for the great Swiss, who seems to be going through an unwanted period of transition. He's lost control of his vaunted forehand, isn't making a great enough impression with his serve and has developed a case of wanderlust from the backcourt. In his seventh loss to Nadal, Federer wasn't sure what strategy to employ and, because his combinations aren't clicking for him, he grew erratic.

It's almost impossible for him to attack Nadal at the net early on in points on clay because he moves so well laterally and Federer has nearly thrown the strategy out the window. His best approach might be just to play steady with him and draw the Spaniard out of his comfort zone. Developing a drop shot would also help. But, at this point, it is very clear that Rafa is a better clay-court performer and that Federer has a lot of catching up to do.

Chinese tennis players Zi Yan and Jie Zheng

Ron Cioffi/TR

Zi Yan and Jie Zheng won in Charleston but weren't on the Chinese Fed Cup team that went down 5-0 to Italy.

SHUAI PENG & CHINA: She may be the most talented of all the Chinese players, but Peng seems to get hurt or sick every time she plays a big match. This time, she had to retire in the third set against Italy's Flavia Pennetta. China, which is obsessed with Olympic success, should have brought a stronger team to Italy.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: The slender Slovak once lifted her tiny nation to the Fed Cup title but couldn't work her magic against the Czech Republic at home, falling in titanic three-setters to Lucie Safarova and Nicole Vaidisova. As her captain said, she was "under the pressure and not strong on the deciding points."

THE AUSSIE WOMEN: With Alicia Molik, Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, one would think that Australia would be able to push Austria to the limit on clay, but the Down Under team isn't steady enough.

KIM CLIJSTERS & JUSTINE HENIN: Wouldn't it have been grand if Clijsters and Henin could have put aside their differences and personal goals and teamed up to face the US? Yes, but it didn't happen and, with Clijsters set to retire, it will never happen again.

AI SUGIYAMA: As good as Japan's most accomplished player is on hard courts, she's never found her feet on clay and didn't push Nathalie Dechy or Tatiana Golovin enough.

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