Italy retain Fed Cup
Italy retained their Fed Cup over the weekend after beating the United States 3-1 in the final.
Flavia Pennetta secured the final rubber to give her country an unassailable 3-1 lead, overpowering Coco Vandeweghe 6-1 6-2.
Despite the comprehensive victory, Pennetta actually lost her serve early on in the first set, giving Vandeweghe an early lead following a double fault. For then on it was just one way traffic, to the delight of the Italians.
"It never changes, it's still the same feeling," Pennetta told Sky Sports 3. "It's really exciting. It's going to be with you all your life. It's really nice.
"It's amazing to win a match like this. I am very happy, the team is very happy."
Earlier in the day the States managed to pull a game back to make a contest of the final. 2-0 down the US were relying on Melanie Oudin to keep them in the competition against French Open winner Francesca Schiavone.
Oudin delivered in some style defeating the Italian 6-3 6-1, in what possibly was the best performance of her young career. But in the end her efforts weren’t enough as the Italians were too good.
"Of course, if Serena and Venus want to play, the chances to win are less," Pennetta added. "It's normal to say something like that. They are really good players, they are really strong.
"But we fight a lot to be here, to have this trophy. Before we played the US, we played two important teams and all their best players were there.
"It doesn't make any difference if they [the Williams sisters] play or not play. Still we have won this unbelievable Fed Cup, and nobody can say anything about that."
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