The United States secured the inaugural Collins Cup at a canter in the RDS today, but at least their was something for the packed galleries to cheer.
Tennis's first ever meeting between the US and Europe was won by a 6-1 margin after today's final three matches but not before Russian stand-in Elena Bovina had embarrassed an out-of-sorts Venus Williams to take Europe's only point of the tournament.
The first pairing this morning saw Serena Williams matched with Iva Majoli and although the Croatian gave the world number one a tough work out, the American did enough to extend her team's lead in the series to 5-0 with two matches remaining.
Majoli showed plenty of European spirit before going down to a 7-5 6-4 defeat.
The Americans had put the contest beyond doubt last night by taking a 4-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, and most expected that lead to stretch to 6-0 when Serena's sister Venus took to the court against Bovina, a lowly ranked Russian only playing because of an injury to Jelena Dokic.
But to the delight of the fans, Bovina stunned her illustrious rival to take the match 3-6 6-4 7-5 and put Europe on the board at last.
The final rubber featured Grand Slam winner and American captain Jennifer Capriati against Daniela Hantuchova. The Slovakian offered stiff competition and took the first set but was unable to carry that momentum through and succumbed to a 4-6 6-4 6-4 defeat.