Italian pair Flavia Pennetta and Fracesca Schiavone cruised to straight set victories to send Italy into a 2-0 lead in the Fed Cup final against the United States on Saturday. Pennetta had no trouble seeing off Alexa Glatch 6-3, 6-1, while Schiavone was made to work a bit harder before coming through 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 against teenager Melanie Oudin on the red clay here.
Glatch may have won her only previous encounter against Pennetta but here the gulf in class between the two, who are separated by 121 places in the world rankings, was obvious. The 20-year-old American simply made too many mistakes to even give herself a half-chance at victory and the result never looked in doubt.
World number 11 Pennetta admitted the emotion of the occasion had got to her. "When I came on court I felt like crying due to the emotion of the event and hearing the anthem," she said. Pennetta set up a break point in the third game with a delicate drop-shot to move 40-15 ahead before closing it out.
Glatch then played a loose game at 3-5, culminating in a wayward forehand error to hand Pennetta a second break and the set. She came out determinedly in the second set and after a marathon game she broke the Italian at the fifth attempt. But that proved a false dawn as it was the last game she won. Pennetta broke back with a cross-court passing shot following a winner down the line to set up the break point.
A Glatch error handed her another break and a winner down the line gave her a 5-1 lead. Pennetta then held serve to love, securing the win with a service winner as she avenged her embarrassing 6-1, 6-1 defeat in the first round at Roland Garros earlier this year. Pennetta will now have the first chance to wrap up a second Fed Cup title for Italy when she plays Oudin on Sunday before Schiavone tackles Glatch.