Russia and France will meet for the second straight year in the Fed Cup finals after both advanced through the semifinals with relative ease on Sunday. After going ahead 2-0 on the 17-time champion United States on Saturday, Russia needed just one point in Sunday's three rubbers to advance. The defending champs got it when 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina knocked off Jill Craybas, 6-2, 6-4 on the red clay of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. "I played really well, except for a couple of games in the second set," said Myskina. "I was feeling a little pain in my leg, but it was OK. It's a great feeling to be back in the final again. I love playing in front of this crowd." Earlier in the day, Wimbledon champion Venus Williams avenged a loss on Saturday by pasting world number five Elena Dementieva, 6-1, 6-2 to keep the Americans' hopes alive. Williams, playing her first tennis since capturing the title at the All England Club last Saturday, had her eight-game Fed Cup winning streak halted on Saturday with a three-set loss to Myskina. "I felt so bad yesterday," said Williams. "The reason I'm here is that I love Zina (Garrison, the US captain) and I wanted to win for her. Yesterday I had some negative points where I lost a game or two, which made a difference to the match because I just wasn't there. I just wanted to come today and do a lot better." The Russian team then capped their impressive weekend when the tandem of Vera Douchevina and Dinara Safina defeated Corina Morariu and Williams, 6-1, 7-5 to post a 4-1 win on the U.S - its first victory over them in five Fed Cup encounters. The American team took a hit earlier in the week when they lost the services of world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport. The Wimbledon and Australian Open runner-up withdrew due to a back injury suffered during last Saturday's epic Wimbledon finale loss against Williams. Russia will be making its sixth Fed Cup final appearance. Meanwhile, in Aix en Provence, the host French, which also came into Sunday with a 2-0 lead, locked up the victory over Spain when Amelie Mauresmo defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-3, 6-1. "I'm really satisfied, as I played at as high a level as yesterday," said Mauresmo, who has now won 15 straight Fed Cup matches. "Winning the decisive point for my country feels great." In other action on Sunday, Arantxa Parra-Santonja won a consolation point for Spain with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Severine Beltrame, while the doubles match was abandoned due to rain. France, which lost to Russia 3-2 in last year's finale, will be making its third straight Fed Cup finals appearance and will be trying for its second championship and first since 2003. The French will have a huge advantage this year, though, as the final, which will be contested September 17-18, will be played at Roland Garros in Paris. "This time we will play them at home," said Mauresmo. "The atmosphere has been great here in Aix, and I hope it will be the same in Paris. We will not be the favorites as Russia has a great crop of high-level players. Each one of them takes Fed Cup extremely seriously, so we will have to play above ourselves too. We will." A few minutes after Mauresmo's win, French Federation President Christian Bimes announced that the final would be played on the main court at Roland Garros, Court Philippe Chatrier. "We took the decision yesterday to play on the biggest court rather than on the Suzanne Lenglen, knowing that our opponents would very likely be the Russians, probably the best Fed Cup team in the world," Bimes said. "We thought that in that case, filling out the 15,000 seats of the Court Philippe Chatrier shouldn't be a problem."