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Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone guided Italy to a commanding 2-0 lead in the final of the 2009 Federation Cup with straight set victories over Alexa Glatch and Melanie Oudin respectively. Italy head into the three rubbers on Sunday as strong favourites to win their second title in three years.

USA came into the final against Italy as huge underdogs without the power of the Williams sisters, boasting a young team led by US Open starlet Melanie Oudin. Oudin was joined by Alexa Glatch for the singles, while doubles specialists Liezel Huber and Vania King would compete in the deciding 5th rubber if necessary on Sunday. Huber, a multiple time Grand Slam champion, had become a naturalized American cit izenship in 2007 and played for the US at the Beijing Olympics as well last year. Italy on the other hand featured a strong line-up including world no.11 Flavia Pennetta and veteran Francesca Schiavone, both part of the winning team in the 2007 edition of the tournament. Pennetta and Schiavone were joined in the squad by Roberta Vinci and young Sara Errani.

Flavia Pennetta gave Italy the early lead with a crushing 6-3, 6-1 win over Alexa Glatch. It was sweet revenge for the Italian superstar having lost to the American in rather embarrassing fashion 6-1, 6-1 at the French Open earlier this year.

Pennetta picked up a break in the third game of the opening set and held serve through some nervy games to hang on to her advantage right through to the 9th game where she broke Glatch again to wrap up the opening set. Glatch looked set to make a match of the contest by breaking serve in the opening game of the second set, but sadly it was the last game she won on the day as Pennetta raced through the next six to give the home side the lead in a fairly one-sided 65 minute encounter.

The second contest was a much tighter affair with Schiavone narrowly edging the opening set 7-2 in the tiebreak. The match saw a two hour rain interruption which came at the perfect time for Italy with Oudin up 4-2 in the first set. Schiavone played a lot better after the interval, breaking back to force the set into a breaker which she ran away with. Oudin responded well by breaking serve in the opening game of the second set only to lose 5 games on the trot. Melanie did claw one further game back before succumbing to a 7-6, 6-2 defeat.

There are three matches scheduled tomorrow with Pennetta and Oudin kicking things off. Should Italy win that match (or for that matter the second), the rest of the tie will be called off.

Saturday Scores:

Italy 2-0 USA
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Alexa Glatch (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 7-6(2), 6-2

Order of Play:

Rubber 3: Flavia Pennetta (ITA) vs. Melanie Oudin (USA)
Rubber 4: Francesca Schiavone (ITA) vs. Alexa Glatch (USA)
Rubber 5: Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA) vs. Liezel Huber / Vania King (USA)

File Photograph: Italian Open (Constantini)

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