Bethanie Mattek

The United States Fed Cup team turned to Phoenix’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands more than once this past weekend to beat a powerhouse Russian squad that has won the tournament four of the last five times. The United States will now face Italy in the tournament’s finals in November. Italy are the reigning champions of the Fed Cup, the most prestigious international tournament in women’s tennis.

“The Russians have a stacked country, so many players, so many top players,” Mattek-Sands said. “It was a total group effort; it was hard play and determination by everyone on the team. It was a lot of matches and was extremely draining as well.”

It was Mattek-Sands who was the star of the day for the red, white and blue. A resident of Phoenix, Mattek-Sands won 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 over Ekaterina Makarova. The marathon win by Mattek-Sands took two hours and 34 minutes but the result evened the overall Fed Cup score at 2-2. Just 30 minutes later, she took the court again in doubles with Liezel Huber for a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the fifth-and-decisive match to advance.

“I am pretty exhausted but it was a great day, a long day,” Mattek-Sands said. “But it’s the Fed Cup and you’re on emotions so much during the past two days.”

Mattek-Sands had a poignant moment in the afternoon. Feeding off the energy of the crowd, she jumped onto the team bench, screaming and unleashing her emotions. The crowd responded and helped carry the player and Team USA to a win over the favored Russians. The image has splashed itself in papers and media outlets across the world.

“It was unbelievable. It all started before when I had a few close calls that went against me,” Mattek-Sands said. “Then the crowd got into it and behind me and it just all came out.”

After a quarterfinal finish in doubles at the Australian Open in January, she followed that up with reaching the semifinals at Indian Wells and winning the team doubles at the MPS Group Championships on Sunday in Jacksonville. Mattek-Sands also played for the New York Sportimes as part of World Team Tennis.

Mattek-Sands and Team USA originally booked their trip to Birmingham with a 4-1 win over France earlier this year, with Mattek-Sands playing a key role in the team advancing to the semifinals. The United States has won the Fed Cup tournament a record 17 times, but they faced a steep test in Russia, who had been crowned Fed Cup winners four times since 2004.

“This was my first Fed Cup in the states and the crowd really got behind us,” Mattek-Sands said. “They helped make a difference as we battled back to get this win.”

Sands remains one of the top American women in the game and her inclusion in the current Fed Cup team showed her versatility in singles and doubles, as she won in both. Currently ranked twelfth in women’s doubles, Mattek-Sands faced a high octane Russian team that has taken the sport by storm the past few years.

“Any way you look at it, Russia will always have a tough team. There are so many Russian players in the top 100 that could be part of their team and play some really good tennis but aren’t even on their roster,” Mattek-Sands said. “We as a team are ready and have been playing well in our respective tournaments as individual players as of late, and we know what we expect of each other since we all have been at Fed Cup before.”