Despite New England taking its cue from England and this year's Wimbledon, the early-morning rain in Vermont did not prevent the Fed Cup tie between the United States and Russia reaching its conclusion on time and an eventual 3-2 victory for the visitors.

Going into the second day with the scores tied at 1-1, the hosts quickly got things going in their favour as Venus Williams made short work of Anna Chakvetadze, winning 6-1, 6-4 in a match lasting just over an hour.
While it wasn’t a classic, it still lived up to my expectations as an extremely high quality match to take in live.

On Saturday, Venus commented that her serve “was a little off rhythm”. On Sunday, I found that part of her game to be the decisive factor in the outcome, especially when you contrast it to the remarkably poor service games of Chakvetadze.

'I noticed that the duo of Petrova and Vesnina were rocking out to the opening ceremony song much like a pair of college buddies at a karaoke bar. They were in tune then, and they were certainly in tune in the doubles'


This was most apparent in the first set, when Venus peppered Chakvetadze with precise serves throughout the box, most of them carrying some serious juice behind them.  When I asked Venus to comment on this, she quickly agreed: “I was conscious of what I was doing, taking my time. Just in general, after playing a match, things come a little better.”

Despite her weak serving, Chakvetadze did not play a poor match even if the score was lopsided.
Her return was doubly impressive, considering her opponent, and it kept her in many points that she appeared likely to lose. In addition, her flat and economical forehand made balls jump at Venus, and on occasions even the dexterous one couldn’t get a racquet on her shots.

But all told, this was the Venus of Wimbledon on display once again. Cross-court passing shots after a lengthy rally were seen with regularity, resulting in winners that raised the volume of the 4,100 in attendance to even higher octaves than on Saturday.

Chakvetadze made it interesting with a break, hold, and nearly a second break that would have levelled the match at 5-5, but ultimately the deficit was too much to overcome.

Shortly after that match, news came through that Italy had beaten France 3-2 to advance to the final but here in Vermont the outcome was far from apparent with Nadia Petrova looking comfortable against Meilen Tu, who was drafted at the last minute by US captain Zina Garrison and was thrown into the lion's den instead of the faltering Vania King.

After touting Meilen for the past couple of days, I found her clinical defeat by Petrova (6-1, 6-2) a bit disappointing to witness. From the start, the American was overwhelmed by a confident and ready Petrova and she was powerless to stop her. Nadia attacked Tu’s serve with reckless abandon, and most every other part of the Russian’s game was in fine form as well.

The tie now went down to the deciding rubber, the doubles, the pairings for which were Petrova and Elena Vesnina versus Lisa Raymond and Venus. By this time, the rain of earlier in the day had given way to hot and muggy conditions.

In her on-court interview, Petrova labelled the upcoming doubles tie as "a hell of a match." As it turned out, she was right and the 7-5, 7-6 (1) result saw an entertaining match that kept the crowd captivated from start to finish.

During the opening ceremony on Saturday, the popular sports anthem "Let’s Get it Started" reverberated through the stadium. After the introductions of the participants had been completed, I noticed that the duo of Petrova and Vesnina were rocking out to the song much like a pair of college buddies at a karaoke bar. They were in tune then, and they were certainly in tune in the doubles.

Coming into the match cold, Vesnina played like a seasoned veteran, and caught nearly everyone by surprise with her tremendous effort. She served stronger than I expected from someone of her frame and she took risks when necessary and pulled them off, staying composed even through the most tense moments of the match. And none was more tense than the second-set tiebreak during which Elena produced aces and winners in a way that would suggest that she’s done this before.

But while she has doubles experience, having won two previous Tour titles, and prior Fed Cup play under her belt (1-1, both in doubles matches), surely nothing compared to this moment.  Indeed, she admitted later that this was by far  the biggest win of her career.

The consistency of Vesnina’s play was a sight to behold, and it didn’t hurt having Petrova by her side. The latter player appeared completely unaffected by the singles which concluded only minutes prior to the doubles match getting under way.

Petrova kept a consistent level throughout all her matches of the weekend, which was a great boon for the Russians, who will now play for their third Fed Cup in four years when they host Italy in Moscow.

With laughter in abundance, the Russian team exited their press conference in sheer delight, knowing all too well that they could now relax. Before them came the Americans who, as one would expect, had a solemn and dejected look on their faces.

During the match, I thought that one of the most important things for the United States was that Venus’s pressure would be somewhat deflected by the presence of Raymond, who in addition to being a doubles force on Tour, is also an older veteran than she is. Obviously, someone like Venus doesn’t get rattled in spots like this any more, but surely Lisa’s accompaniment should have made her feel even more comfortable out there.

I asked her about this. ''It’s exciting (to play with Lisa). There are so many balls that come back off that first volley ... I’m obviously taking advice from her and she's obviously a  lot more comfortable on the doubles court that I am," Venus said.

"I definitely felt good going out there. It was just a couple of points here and there," she added disappointedly.