Australian Samantha Stosur returns to Russian Victoria Kan during their 2014 Fed Cup World Group first-round tie between Australia and Russia in Hobart, Australia on Sunday. Photo: CFP

Australia stormed into the Fed Cup semifinals on Sunday for the first time in 21 years with a commanding 4-0 performance led by two ­Samantha Stosur wins and a comprehensive doubles display.

Stosur, the world No.16 and 2011 US Open champion, saw off 158th-ranked teenager Victoria Kan in ­exactly an hour, with a straight-set 6-2, 6-3 win over the 18-year-old Fed Cup debutante to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead over Russia.

"I'm very, very happy ... We're still in it, so we have a chance to win it," Stosur said of the Fed Cup.

Ashleigh Barty and Casey ­Dellacqua sealed a clean sweep of the Russians with an emphatic 6-1, 6-3 ­doubles win over Irina Khromacheva and Valeria Solovyeva.

Dellacqua said she and Barty had both had a "great week."

"We are going to play a lot ­together. Last year she was only a baby, but she's 18 soon, she's becoming an adult and we're going to play a lot together and hopefully continue to improve on what we did last year."

Australia last made the Fed Cup semifinals in 1993, and they hadn't beaten Russia since 1983.

Australia team captain Alicia Molik was delighted with the result.

"The Fed Cup is always a week to get the best out of each other. The support the players give each other has been fantastic this week and I want the girls to continue like this for the rest of the year," she said.

Australia went into Sunday with a commanding 2-0 lead after Dellacqua downed Khromacheva, the only one of the four Russians who had ­competed in the world team event ­before, in straight sets.

Stosur then dispatched little-­known 16-year-old Veronika Kudermetova, ranked 650th in the world, 6-4, 6-0. Stosur had been due to meet Khromacheva on Sunday, but Russia ­reshuffled their lineup to send top-ranked Kan in against the dominant Australian.

Russia, last year's losing finalists, are without their big names for the clash at the Domain Tennis Centre in Hobart, missing their 13 top players.

Maria Sharapova is currently in Sochi for the Winter Olympic Games and the new captain, former world No.2 Anastasia Myskina, opted for four almost unknown players, the highest-ranked of whom was Kan.

AFP - Global Times