KEY POINTS:
Maria Sharapova came to Russia's rescue on her Fed Cup tennis debut to pull the holders level at 1-1 in their world group first-round tie against Israel yesterday.
The Florida-based Sharapova rolled Israel's Tzipi Obziler 6-0 6-4, momentarily silencing the capacity 5000-strong crowd. Lindsay Davenport was overturned by German teen Sabine Lisicki, ranked 130th, 6-1, 7-5 to give Germany a shock lead over the US.
Spain took a surprise 2-0 lead over Italy, while China did the same to France.
