28 Nov 2004 - Krylatskoe Ice Stadium, Moscow, RUS - Jo Sirman - RUS v FRA Golovin Levels and Doubles Will Decide Ice queen Tatiana Golovin pulled off a thrilling upset against Svetlana Kuznetsova to keep France in the Fed Cup Final against Russia. After her 64 61 victory, the nations are tied at 2-2 and everything now hangs on the doubles. Moscow-born Golovin kept her cool to hand the US Open champion her second defeat of the weekend, following yesterday's loss to Nathalie Dechy. Just like on Saturday, Kuznetsova made too many errors, while her opponent kept calm under pressure to secure the straight-sets triumph in one hour 19 minutes. "I definitely feel really good," said a delighted Golovin. "It was a good match and it proves I can beat the best players. It gives me a lot of confidence to work and also for next year." The 2004 Fed Cup champion nation will now be decided in the doubles. Russia has changed its original line-up, taking out Elena Likhovtseva and replacing her with Anastasia Myskina, winner of both her singles matches. The Russian No. 1 will team with Vera Zvonareva against France's Marion Bartoli and Emilie Loit, whose pairing is unchanged. Kuznetsova, the world No. 5, started well in the fourth singles match, pressurising her 16-year-old opponent on her service games, but it was Golovin who broke first to take a 4-2 lead. Kuznetsova broke straight back, and had two break points with Golovin serving at 4-4, but the French girl served her way out of trouble, and a game later she jumped on two bad errors from the Russian to sneak the set at her first opportunity. "I was watching Kuznetsova's match very carefully yesterday when she played Nathalie so I knew how she played," Golovin later explained. That proved to have been a good strategy, as the US Open champion's game was as erratic as it had been on Saturday, her go-for-broke style too often yielding mistakes rather than brilliant winners. Nonetheless Golovin played with maturity beyond her years, looking like a veteran of this kind of pressure rather than the Fed Cup debutante (in singles) that she is. Golovin survived a fierce challenge from Kuznetsova in the opening game of the second set, successfully blocking out the urgings of the 5,000-strong mainly Russian crowd to hold her serve and then break a game later. She refused to be phased when she dropped her own serve in the third game, making the most of one of Kuznetsova's many errors to break again and take a 3-1 lead. During the match Kuznetsova made 46 unforced errors compared to 14 winners, while No. 27-ranked Golovin made only 19 unforced errors, and hit 11 winners. Kuznetsova became more and more disheartened at her lack of success, and was surely haunted by her loss on Saturday and the weight of expectation all around her in the Krylatskoe Ice Stadium. Another error, this time a wide backhand, handed ice-cool Golovin a double break and she served out for a famous victory. A devastated Kuznetsova said, "I couldn't make right my unforced errors and the positive things from yesterday had gone. I didn't serve well and I didn't play the right tennis tactically." She added, "I should be showing a different kind of tennis, I should be demanding the terms. I need to play more consistently indoors; outdoors it is fine but indoors I must do more." But there was no denying Golovin's oustanding performance. "In a match like that a few points can change everything. She really surpassed herself and she played beyond her capabilities," said Kuznetsova. --

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