Seles, Davenport, put U.S. on brink of Fed Cup title

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Monica Seles had a simple explanation for her success against Conchita Martinez.

"I just think I'm a better player," Seles said.

She was on Friday, beating Martinez in straight sets to help put the United States one win from beating Spain for a second straight Fed Cup championship.

And she has been a better player throughout her career, beating Martinez 19 of the 20 times the two have played.

"It's just a game I like to play against," Seles said. "I like the style she plays, the angles she gives me."

Seles has been nearly as dominant against Spain's other top player, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who she has beaten in 19 of 22 career matches. And that spells trouble for any hopes of a Spanish comeback in the female version of the Davis Cup international competition.

"Maybe we have a 1-in-10 chance," Sanchez-Vicario said. "It is going to be very difficult for us."

Seles beat Martinez 6-2, 6-3, then Davenport followed with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over Sanchez-Vicario to put the United States up 2-0 in the best-of-5 competition.

While Seles breezed, Davenport struggled in the second set and needed some words of wisdom from U.S. coach Billie Jean King to help pull out her match.

After the second set, Davenport turned to King for some thoughts on how to win her match.

"She's really good about knowing what the players need to hear and when they need to hear it," Davenport said. "I told her, 'Now would be a good time to tell me what you think I need to."

What King thought was that Davenport, the world's No. 2 player, should quit trying to finesse shots down the line and instead concentrate on hitting the ball back up the middle with some power behind it.

It worked, as Davenport took a 3-1 lead, then withstood a service break to win the last three games of the deciding set.

"She gave me a game plan," Davenport said of King, the six-time captain of the team. "I think that helped. It gave me a very good plan just to focus on."

Davenport can wrap up the second straight Fed Cup title for the American team when she returns to the court Saturday for the first singles match against Martinez.

Seles plays Sanchez-Vicario in the second singles match of the day. A doubles match wraps up the competition on the indoor court at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

Both Seles and Davenport were members of what King called her "Dream Team" last year that beat Russia in the Fed Cup final. That team also included Venus and Serena Williams.

This year's team has Lisa Raymond and Jennifer Capriati in supporting roles, but Davenport and Seles played both singles matches in the semifinals against Belgium and will play all four singles against Spain.

"To defend the title will be a huge satisfaction," Seles said. "We really want to win this one for the team and Billie."

Seles was on the 1998 team that lost in a semifinal match to Spain, which has won five of the last nine Fed Cup titles. It was an experience she didn't want to relive.

"We made the pact then that we were going to win it," Seles said. "Last year, we had an amazing team and were a shoe-in to win it. We've got to be a little more careful this time and pace ourselves and I think we've done that."