Defending Fed Cup champions the United States were one point from advancing to the semi-finals on Saturday after a comfortable victory for Venus Williams, with sister Serena waiting in the wings for her much anticipated comeback. Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams needed an hour and 19 minutes to brush aside her 124th-ranked Dutch opponent Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-4. A more laboured win followed for the mercurial CoCo Vandeweghe, who lost her first set to Richel Hogenkamp and broke a racket in frustration during the second before fighting back to a 4-6, 7-6 (8 by 6), 6-3 victory. They were both cheered from the bench by Serena Williams, who is poised to make her own return to the sport on Sunday after a year away and the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia, who attended in the arms of her father Alexis Ohanian one row behind. Venus win came in her 1,000th career match and her 22nd singles appearance in a tournament she first played in 1999, but she insisted milestones were far from her mind.