Venus Loses Deciding Fed Cup Doubles

With Serena Williams sidelined with injury, older sister Venus was left to carry the load, but suffered a rare doubles loss when she and partner Lisa Raymond were beaten in the fifth and deciding doubles match 7-5, 7-6(1) by Russia's Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina.

In the first set of the doubles decider, Vesnina held serve to give the Russians a 6-5 lead, then the Russians broke Raymond to take the set. In the second-set tiebreaker Petrova double-faulted on the first point, but the Russians swept the next seven.

"They really got some lucky shots, I mean off my serve," Williams said of some Russian big returns in the tiebreak. "Normally, I'm never going to lose two points in the tiebreaker on my serve."

Prior to the deciding doubles, Venus Williams kept the U.S. in the tie with singles wins over Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze. American Vania King lost her singles to Chakvetadze, and Meilen Tu, the replacement for Serena Williams, lost to Petrova. Both were beaten handily.

The Russians were missing injured Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, but had a deep bench to draw from compared to the U.S., who are currently at a loss for serious talent outside of the Williams sisters.

Before the doubles finale, Venus Williams commented she had never heard of Vesnina.

"Now she heard about me -- now she knows me," Vesnina laughed when asked about the elder Williams sisters' comment.