Italy remain on track to defend their Fed Cup title after handing the Ukraine a 4-1 defeat in the first round of the 2010 competition.
Alona Bondarenko got the Ukraine off to a strong start with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Francesca Schiavone but world No. 12 Flavia Pennetta soon had Italy back on track, with wins over Kateryna Bondarenko and sister Alona. From there, the Italians took the remaining two rubbers to set up a home semi-final in April.
There, Italy will face the Czech Republic, who defeated Germany 3-2 in a first-round tie that was not decided until the final doubles rubber. It was Lucie Hradecka, in her maiden Fed Cup appearance, who proved the difference for the Czechs, defeating Andrea Petkovic in what proved to be a dramatic singles rubber (in which she had replaced an ailing Lucie Safarova) before teaming with Kveta Peschke to win the doubles rubber and secure the tie for the home side.
While some of the USA and Russia’s tennis stars elected to forego the team competition, its importance was clear to those who did represent their nations. Petkovic was a case in point, in tears following her defeat by Hradecka, after also losing her opening singles rubber, she remained emotional when speaking to the press.
“I feel like I let the team down and I was never able to find my rhythm in either match,” Petkovic said. Following their first-round loss, the Ukraine will now head back into the play-offs that will determine who fills what are now four open slots in the World Group for 2011.
In the biggest Fed Cup tie Serbia has played in the competition – having reached the World Group for the first time this year – they were unable to turn a home court advantage into a winning edge. Russia won that tie 3-2 after Ana Ivanovic failed to put a win on the board in either the singles, or teamed with Jelena Jankovic in the doubles rubber.
Jankovic, despite suffering from back problems leading into the tie, provided the Serbs with hope in front of their 10,000 home fans. The world No. 8 took her team to a 2-1 lead after the third singles rubber – a three set tussle against French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. But it was not to be, and Ivanovic’s 2-6, 3-6 loss to Alisa Kleybanova in the fourth rubber will have done little for her confidence on court as the former world No. 1 continues to struggle for form.
The news was better for last year’s runner-up, with Melanie Oudin securing the rubber that sent the USA through to the semi-finals for 2010. France managed to take just one dead rubber from the visitors, who handled the clay courts in Lieven with aplomb and wrapped up the tie with two rubbers to spare.
For the teenaged Oudin, holding her nerve to take the decisive third rubber, and win the tie for the US can only be a valuable experience as she takes the responsibility for the American team’s success or otherwise on her young shoulders.
The victory by Mary Joe Fernandez’s young charges sets up a home semi-final against Russia in April.
Meanwhile, the weekend’s World Group losers – Serbia, France, Ukraine and Germany - will now head to the World Group play-offs in the same month. There they’ll face the winners of the World Group II ties, which also took place over the weekend and saw Australia, Poland, Estonia and the Slovak Republic earn the chance to fight for a place in the top tier of the competition next year.
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