 Italy's quartet celebrate at the Castellaneta Marina in Rome |
Italy set up a Fed Cup final against the United States after a shock 4-1 win over defending champions Russia. Victories for Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the doubles and Francesca Schiavone in the singles ended Russia's hopes of a third consecutive title. The US staged a superb comeback to beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in the other semi-final in Brno. Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber beat Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke in the final doubles match. US rookie Alexa Glatch, ranked 114th in the world, levelled the tie at 2-2 with a 6-2 6-1 win over Petra Kvitova. And Mattek-Sands, who lost both of her singles ties, atoned for her earlier defeats alongside world number one doubles player Huber, fighting back from a set down for a 2-6 7-6 6-1 victory.  | 606: DEBATE |
Russia, trailing 2-0 at the start of the day, reduced the deficit when world number nine Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-0 6-3. Italy's victory was assured when Schiavone beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 4-6 6-2, with Errani and Vinci completing the rout with a 1-6 6-3 6-4 win over Nadia Petrova and Pavlyuchenkova. "These girls will go down in the history of Italian tennis," said Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti.
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