Pennetta rallies to boost Italy
Source: Agencies |
April 25, 2010, Sunday
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ITALIAN Flavia Pennetta fought back in both sets to seal a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka in their Fed Cup semifinal first rubber yesterday.
Holder Italy was nervously biting its finger nails when world No. 15 Pennetta went 1-4 down in the first set under gray Rome skies but the powerful Hradecka soon lost her radar and the set.
It was a similar story in the next set with both players looking inconsistent on the clay before Pennetta secured the win when the Czech's lob went long.
Italy No. 2 Francesca Schiavone was taking on Lucie Safarova in the second singles match later with the reverse singles and the doubles scheduled for today.
The United States, last year's runner-up, was meeting Russia in the other semifinal.
Elsewhere, in Barcelona, Spain, Fernando Verdasco reached his second final in two weeks after beating David Ferrer 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-1 in the Barcelona Open semifinals yesterday.
Eighth-seeded Ferrer rallied from early jitters behind dominant baseline play to take the first set in a tiebreaker.
Fifth-seeded Verdasco snapped his fellow Spaniard's momentum with two breaks in the second set to even the match. Verdasco then dominated his Davis Cup teammate in the deciding frame with forehand winners.
"I had confidence after coming back into the game in the second set," said Verdasco, who lost last week's Monte Carlo Masters to compatriot Rafael Nadal. "I'll have to recover quickly to be in good shape for tomorrow."
Verdasco will try to make it nine straight Spanish winners at Godo when he plays either second-seeded Swede Robin Soderling or unseeded Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands in today's final. It is the 14th straight year a Spanish player features in the final.
Ferrer was denied a third straight trip to the Barcelona final, where he had lost to Nadal both times.
Second-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden was playing Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands in the late semifinal.
French Open runner-up Soderling ruined Eduardo Schwank's 24th-birthday celebrations when he thrashed the unseeded Argentine 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Swedish world No. 8 has not dropped a set all week on the Catalan clay.
Dutchman De Bakker, a former junior world No. 1, took his first top-10 scalp when he upset third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a match briefly interrupted by rain.
The 21-year-old ignored the partisan support from local fans for the flamboyant Tsonga and sealed victory when the erratic world No. 10 went long with a forehand return.
Holder Italy was nervously biting its finger nails when world No. 15 Pennetta went 1-4 down in the first set under gray Rome skies but the powerful Hradecka soon lost her radar and the set.
It was a similar story in the next set with both players looking inconsistent on the clay before Pennetta secured the win when the Czech's lob went long.
Italy No. 2 Francesca Schiavone was taking on Lucie Safarova in the second singles match later with the reverse singles and the doubles scheduled for today.
The United States, last year's runner-up, was meeting Russia in the other semifinal.
Elsewhere, in Barcelona, Spain, Fernando Verdasco reached his second final in two weeks after beating David Ferrer 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-1 in the Barcelona Open semifinals yesterday.
Eighth-seeded Ferrer rallied from early jitters behind dominant baseline play to take the first set in a tiebreaker.
Fifth-seeded Verdasco snapped his fellow Spaniard's momentum with two breaks in the second set to even the match. Verdasco then dominated his Davis Cup teammate in the deciding frame with forehand winners.
"I had confidence after coming back into the game in the second set," said Verdasco, who lost last week's Monte Carlo Masters to compatriot Rafael Nadal. "I'll have to recover quickly to be in good shape for tomorrow."
Verdasco will try to make it nine straight Spanish winners at Godo when he plays either second-seeded Swede Robin Soderling or unseeded Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands in today's final. It is the 14th straight year a Spanish player features in the final.
Ferrer was denied a third straight trip to the Barcelona final, where he had lost to Nadal both times.
Second-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden was playing Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands in the late semifinal.
French Open runner-up Soderling ruined Eduardo Schwank's 24th-birthday celebrations when he thrashed the unseeded Argentine 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Swedish world No. 8 has not dropped a set all week on the Catalan clay.
Dutchman De Bakker, a former junior world No. 1, took his first top-10 scalp when he upset third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a match briefly interrupted by rain.
The 21-year-old ignored the partisan support from local fans for the flamboyant Tsonga and sealed victory when the erratic world No. 10 went long with a forehand return.
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