The mighty Williams sisters powered the United
States through their first-round Fed Cup match against the Czech Republic on
Sunday.
Serena and Venus both won their singles matches convincingly before teaming up
for a destruction job on the Czech doubles pair.
They led 2-0 overnight after easy wins on Saturday and world number one Serena
booked the Americans their place in July's quarter-finals, where they will host
Italy, by crushing Klara Koukalova 6-2 6-2.
Venus, who has fallen to number three in the WTA rankings, made it 4-0 by
emphatically defeating Ivete Benesova 6-3 6-2, before the siblings combined to
hammer Daja Bedanova and Eva Birnerova 6-1 6-1 in the final match of the tie.
The team most likely to challenge the US for the title this year are Belgium,
who boast the second and fourth best players in the world, Kim Clijsters and
Justine Henin-Hardenne.
The Belgians delighted their home crowd in Bree by white-washing Austria
5-0, with Clijsters defeating Patricia Wartusch 6-2 6-2 on Sunday to secure
qualification.
Els Callens replaced the resting Henin-Hardenne for the fourth match and beat
Evelyn Fauth 7-6 6-2, before teaming up with Clijsters to outmanoevre Yvonne
Meusburger and Sybille Bammer in the doubles, winning 6-2 6-2.
Belgium now face defending champions the Slovak Repbulic who fought back from 1-0 down to see off Germany 3-2.
Star player Daniela Hantuchova had to dig deep though, twice winning her singles rubbers in three sets to boost her side.
France enjoyed a comfortable 5-0 victory over Colombia, while Russia beat Croatia 4-1.
Singles wins for Conchita Martinez and Magui Serna ensured Spain saw off a determined Australian challenge, while the tightest tie came in Sweden where the hosts lost the decisive doubles against Italy.
Slovenia had already booked their place in the last eight having seen off Argentina on Saturday.
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