Vera Zvonareva beat Vania King 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the first reverse singles to give Russia an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the United States in their Fed Cup semi-final and send the holders into the final.

The world number 14's victory gave Russia an insurmountable 3-0 lead and ensured they would appear in their fourth final in five years when they take on Spain in September.

The Americans won the two dead rubbers to make the final score a respectable 3-2.

Fed Cup debutante Ahsha Rolle upset Elena Vesnina, ranked 101 places above her, 6-3 6-4 in the last singles to give the visitors their first point before King and Liezel Huber beat Vesnina and Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 6-4 in the doubles.

Russia, who have won the trophy three times in the last four years, were expected to dominate a U.S. team devoid of big-name players after former world number ones Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport decided against making the trip to Moscow.

The hosts, who enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 lead after the first day, were looking for Zvonareva, a late addition to Russia's line-up, to wrap up the tie against 115th-ranked King.

But Zvonareva, who replaced world number four Kuznetsova for the match, had to work harder than expected to overcome the combative American.

King stunned the Russian by winning the opening set after breaking her in the ninth game.

It was the first set won by the U.S. team in the two-day tie on the red clay of Moscow's Luzhniki arena.

The Russian broke in the sixth game of the second set to level the match.

After regaining her confidence, Zvonareva broke the American to love in the third game of the final set, then repeated the trick four games later and went on to win the match after one hour 52 minutes.

"It was my first match on red clay in almost two years," Zvonareva, who has battled various injuries in the past year but reached the final of last week's Family Circle Cup on green clay in Charleston, said.

"That's why I was a little nervous at the start of the match but I was able to overcome the early nerves and score the winning point for our team."

Despite two singles defeats, King, who also lost to world number seven Anna Chakvetadze on Saturday, was satisfied with her performance in Moscow.

"I felt like I could have won both matches," she said before her doubles victory.

"Just like yesterday's match, today there were a couple of points here and there that could have changed the match around. Still, I'm happy with my play and look forward to continuing to improve my game."

Reuters