Published: 8 February, 2009, 02:03
Edited: 8 February, 2009, 02:03
Reigning champions Russia have made a confident start to their defence of the Fed Cup. They stormed to a commanding 2-0 lead in their opening tie against China.
First on court was Svetlana Kuznetsova, who suffered a minor hiccup before beating Yan Zi. After blitzing the first set, the world number seven then stumbled to 1-4 and 0-40 down in the second, but regained her composure to save the three breakpoints and wrap up a 6-2, 6-4 win.
Meanwhile it was business as usual for the sublime Elena Dementieva.
The Russian, who's dropped just one match so far this season, took just a little while to get going before steamrollering Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-0.
Team Russia now need to win just one more rubber to book a place in the semi-finals.