Williams sisters lead US to 3-2 win

Serena and Venus Williams delivered singles victories Sunday to lift the United States to a 3-2 Fed Cup playoff victory over Sweden that will keep America in the elite World Group.

Venus Williams persevered to deliver the clinching point, sealing a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Johanna Larsson on her eighth match point.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion had been rolling toward the win, serving for the match and the tie at 5-4 in the second set when she delivered three double faults to drop her serve.

She immediately broke back to take a 6-5 lead, but had to claw through a 12th game that went to deuce nine times.

“She started lifting her game, but thanks to all the support here I was able to give it to the US,” said Williams, who had seven of her 11 double faults in the second set but hung on to give the United States an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

The Americans then opted out of the meaningless doubles, giving Sweden a walkover win and making the final score of the tie 3-2.

Venus was given singles duty at the last minute by US captain Mary Joe Fernandez, who apparently felt that 20-year-old Sloane Stephens hadn’t bounced back adequately from her error-strewn 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Sofia Arvidsson in the opening match of the tie on Saturday. World number one Serena Williams had put the Americans back on track Saturday with a win over Larsson, and she put the 17-time champion United States up 2-1 with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Arvidsson on Sunday.

AFP