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Sochi - Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic in the deciding rubber of the Fed Cup World Group semi-final against Germany on Sunday to put Russia into the final.
Vesnina and Pavlyuchenkova won 6-2, 6-3 in one hour 24 minutes to earn a pass into the title match against the Czech Republic, who beat France in the other semi-final.
"I was a bit nervous at the start but I knew that together with Nastia (Pavlyuchenkova) we're a good team," Vesnina said.
"I watched Lisicki and Petkovic playing at Indian Wells last month and was ready for some of their moves.
"Besides, Nastia also played well even though she came on court right after her singles match."
The Russian duo looked confident from the start, producing three breaks in the opening set, which was over in 38 minutes.
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first as the Russians broke their opponents serve on three more occasions sealing their victory with an ace by Pavlyuchenkova.
Earlier Sunday, Germany's Angelique Kerber beat Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-0 to level the match at 2-2.
"I was obliged to win. Therefore I was nervous at first. But then I started winning my points," Kerber said.
"The title which I won last week allowed me to feel confidence. That victory came at the right time."
The 27-year-old Kerber, winner of the Charleston WTA event last week, looked in command from the start, breaking Pavlyuchenkova's serve twice to take the opening set in just 25 minutes before starting the second with yet another break before sending the tie into the decisive fifth rubber.
In Sunday's opening match Petkovic reduced the arrears with a straight-sets victory 6-2, 6-1 over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
"Yesterday's rest really played a big role for me," Petkovic said.
"I don't know how I would have played yesterday, but I know that two (successive) days of play for me is not possible.
"The score tells nothing about this match. Some games in the first set were very close. Both of us showed very good clay court tennis during the first set."
Petkovic, who is 11th in the WTA rankings, started confidently, breaking her opponent's serve on three occasions to take the opening set in 41 minutes.
In the second Petkovic underlined her supremacy on the red clay court of Sochi's Adler Arena as she produced two more breaks to chalk up her team's first point.
"I failed to adjust myself completely for the clay courts, that's the main reason for my defeat today," Kuznetsova said.
On Saturday Kuznetsova beat Goerges 6-4, 6-4 to put Russia into the lead, while Pavlyuchenkova battled back from a set down to defeat Sabine Lisicki to give her country a comfortable 2-0 lead.
