CASTELLANETA MARINA, Italy -- Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone won their singles matches Saturday to give Italy a 2-0 lead against Russia in the Fed Cup semifinals.Pennetta beat Anna Chakvetadze 6-4, 6-0, and Schiavone rallied to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 on the clay courts at Nova Yardinia tennis club.
Pennetta broke twice in the opening set, and lost only nine points in the second to close out the match in 67 minutes.
"I didn't expect that result," Pennetta said. "The last time we lost 3-0 and the matches with Anna are always hard. It is good we have won, but they are a stronger squad and still favorites for the Fed Cup."
Schiavone put Italy in a great position to reach its third final in four years with her win.
"In the first set, I couldn't really feel the ball and was hitting it long," she said. "But I kept my head and am really happy with the result."
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
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