Tel Aviv: Maria Sharapova crushed Israel's Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday to give holders Russia a 2-1 lead in their Fed Cup world group first-round tie.
The Israeli No. 1 had no answer to the Australian Open champion's powerful groundstrokes and Sharapova broke Peer six times to win the third rubber of the tie in an hour and 14 minutes.
The result put the defending champions within one match of winning the tie, much to the disappointment of the 5,000 boisterous home fans.
World No. 5 Sharapova said she was not surprised by the outcome of the match against Peer, ranked 17th in the world.
"I have a good past record against her and I was not surprised ... I hit a very powerful flat ball and she is more defensive, so it does not surprise me," Sharapova said.
Peer agreed that she was beaten by the better player but did not think the match was as one-sided as the scoreline suggested.
"She put real pressure on me from the start and didn't give me a chance to breathe, she won all the important points but it was really tougher than that," Peer said.
On Saturday, Sharapova beat Tzipi Obziler to level the tie after Peer had beaten Dinara Safina.
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