As a reporter, it’s nice to see your assertions and hypotheses turn into reality.  On Saturday, I thought one of the glaring mis-steps in the US. Fed Cup team captain Zina Garrison’s order of play was leaving Meilen Tu on the sidelines and opting to play Vania King instead.

Sunday’s action may prove my assertion even more glaringly, but I certainly didn’t anticipate that the evidence would have been so stark.

In the first singles match of the tie against Russia, King fell – badly – to 20-year-old Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-3. Honestly, the score doesn’t even do the Russian justice. The pressure for King was even greater because she opened the tie, knowing that by losing she would make things even more difficult for Venus Williams in the second match. It may also have been the reason why King couldn’t muster much of a fight against the world No.8, and the writing was seemingly on the wall for this rubber long before the opening ceremonies began.

'After Venus took the match in three sets, the crowd in Stowe exalted in praise not often heard in this quaint town'


The most apparent distinction in the games of King and Chakvetadze was how they each strike the ball. King exerted much more energy and effort into each of her shots; nearly every one appeared to be a challenge. Conversely, Chakvetadze’s hits were simpler in execution, yet infinitely more effective. If I could describe Chakvetadze’s play in one word, it would be “economical”. Anna’s movement and position was almost never out of sync, and her motions on court were far more compact and fluid than her opponent’s. Her shorter and swifter ball toss also highlighted these qualities – and it was no surprise that her service games were rarely threatened.

Chakvetadze’s play was even more impressive, considering that this was her first match on a hard court since early April in Miami.

"I prefer hard courts and grass courts. I didn't play that well at Wimbledon but hopefully I will play better at the US Open," she said briefly in reply to my question. It was an economical response – much like her ground strokes.

The marquee rubber of the day, Venus Williams against Nadia Petrova, commenced shortly afterwards with the capacity crowd, which was lulled into silence for most of the opening match, expectedly doing a 180-degree turn when the new Wimbledon champion stepped into the Stadium at Topnotch. Two hours later, after Venus took the match in three sets (7-6, 0-6, 6-4), the crowd in Stowe exalted in praise not often heard in this quaint town.

Venus later stressed the importance of this atmosphere, citing the intimacy of the stadium as a huge boost to her play on court.  Conversely, Petrova had to contend with this often-distracting presence. I asked her how she dealt with the crowd, which got on her case a few times after letting her emotions show on court:

"I really didn’t pay attention. It’s not the first time playing in a big stadium in front of a big crowd, cheering some other players. I just learned through all these years that just try to perform and try to focus on every ball. When you get into that zone, whatever happens around doesn’t really matter," she said.

It was clear that even in the heat of the moment, Petrova was having fun with the high-stakes situation, and with the crowd. It was a sharp contrast to the opening rubber, where instead of gallivanting, Chakvetadze exhibited qualities akin to a stoic assassin.  In equal contrast was Venus's play which was exciting, powerful, and relentless – basically, just like she played at Wimbledon.

In an erratic first set that featured four breaks of serve, Venus came out on top in a tiebreak, despite being down 5-2 and three set points. Venus was then shut out in set two – an “emotional letdown”, she called it at the post-match news conference.

If you watched Venus at Wimbledon, the combination of her speed and power was the deciding factor in many of her close encounters. It was much the same on Saturday, as another set filled with service breaks (five of them) ended this rubber. Venus’s offense was strong, but even more impressive may have been her defense, as well as another “D” word – dexterity.  It was truly a sight to behold from up close, and after witnessing some amazing gets, I would warn other onlookers to ignore Venus at their peril.

Sunday’s play will start with a bang, as Williams and Chakvetadze duel to see who can maintain an unbeaten record in the tie, and with it which side will gain the 2-1 advantage.

From then on, it gets very interesting. In her news conference, Garrison suggested that based on King's disappointing performance she might go with Meilen in the second singles match. But I have a strong feeling that no matter what path Garrison takes, this semi-final will be decided by the last rubber of the tie – the doubles.