MOSCOW (AP) — Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is replacing Maria Sharapova in the first reverse singles match and will play Alize Cornet on Sunday in the first-round Fed Cup tie between Russia and France.
France stunned highly favored Russia on Saturday, winning both singles matches to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five matchup.
Cornet rallied to beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Virginie Razzano then took a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion.
Russia is undefeated in eight home ties since losing to France in the semifinals in 2003. Russia has never come back from 2-0 down since the Fed Cup moved to a best-of-five format in 1995.
