MINSK: A 17-year championship drought came to an end on Sunday for the United States when they put in a battling performance to beat hosts Belarus 3-2 and win a record-extending 18th Fed Cup title.

CoCo Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers downed Belarus pair Aryna Sabalenka and Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in a deciding doubles rubber of the 2017 final.

“It feels perfectly believable and unbelievable,” Vandeweghe said. “I’m ready for a vacation.”

The Belarus pair led 5-2 in the second set and served to level at one-set apiece in the eighth, 10th and 12th games. The Americans dominated the tiebreaker, winning five of the last six points.

The US had not won the title since beating Spain 5-0 in 2000, while Belarus were without former world number one Victoria Azarenka, who missed the final due to an ongoing custody battle with her baby son’s father.

Vandeweghe is the first player to record a spotless year in Fed Cup singles rubbers since Petra Kvitova went unbeaten for the Czech Republic in 2011, and the American won eight matches in total — six singles and two doubles — in the competition.

Kathy Rinaldi was understandably over the moon after becoming the first US captain to guide a team to a Fed Cup title in their first year since Marty Riessen in 1986.

“I’m just really thrilled for all four players,” she said in a courtside interview. “I believe in these American players.

“CoCo [Vandeweghe] came out and just played unbelievable. Shelby [Rogers] stepped up and Sloane [Stephens] — my heart was broken for her, but she battled this whole weekend, she battled all the way to the end. I’m so proud of all four of them.

“They’re tough as nails. American women are tough as nails! There’s going to be dancing all night.”

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017