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Pennetta, Schiavone give Italy commanding Fed Cup lead over U.S.

Sat 7th, November 2009

Reggio Calabria, Italy (Sports Network) - Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone each won singles matches to give Italy a commanding 2-0 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup final.

Pennetta secured the first point for the home country with a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Alexa Glatch before Schiavone followed with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 victory over Melanie Oudin.

The Americans, appearing in their first Fed Cup final since 2003, will need to sweep Sunday's reverse singles and take the ensuing doubles match to claim the title. With a team featuring the 132nd-ranked player in the world in Glatch and the 49th-ranked Oudin, an 18th Fed Cup crown -- and first since 2000 -- appears unlikely.

Captain Mary Joe Fernandez was forced to go with the underdog team after both Venus and Serena Williams decided against playing this week. The Williams sisters completed their 2009 campaigns last week in the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Qatar, with Serena beating Venus for the season- ending title.

The Italians are playing in the Fed Cup title series for the third time in the last four years and are gunning for their second championship. They captured their first Fed Cup crown in 2006 with a victory over Belgium and lost to Russia in the 2007 final.

Glatch stunned Pennetta in the first round of the French Open in the spring, but the 11th-ranked player in the world gained a measure of revenge Saturday in the opening singles rubber.

After Glatch held serve to start the match, Pennetta reeled off the next three games with a break of serve in the third game. Another break in the ninth closed out the first set for the Italian.

Glatch, though, broke serve in the opening game of the second set, but Pennetta broke right back and didn't lose another game on the way to victory in a mere 65 minutes.

Oudin, who gained attention this summer as a surprise quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open, was more competitive in the second match of the day and held a 4-2 lead in the first set when rain halted play for about two hours. Schiavone came out with renewed confidence and broke serve in the first game after the stoppage, then dominated the tiebreak.

A break of serve for Oudin in the first game of the second set didn't faze Schiavone, who captured the next five games to take control.

Oudin will try to keep the Americans alive on Sunday in the first reverse singles rubber against Pennetta. Schiavone and Glatch are slated to meet in Sunday's second match, unless Fernandez elects to make changes with Vania King and Liezel Huber available.

King and Huber are slated to play doubles for the U.S. against the team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

The Americans entered this weekend's action 9-0 all-time against Italy in Fed Cup play.