Roberta Vinci sent Italy into the Fed Cup final for the fifth time in eight years with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova in Palermo on Monday.
The match was held over because of rain on Sunday. Vinci's triumph gave Italy, winners of the trophy in 2009 and 2010, an unassailable 3-1 lead over the twice defending champions, meaning the doubles was not played.
Russia await in the final after they stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Slovakia 3-2 in Moscow on Sunday. Italy went 2-0 up on Saturday before Petra Kvitova gave the Czechs hope on Sunday by beating Sara Errani in front of a partisan crowd at the Circolo Tennis Palermo.
Vinci, 30, had too much guile for Safarova in the first set although the Czech found her feet in the second to lead 5-3. The Italian broke back and served for the match at 6-5 but faltered and was brushed aside in the tiebreak by an inspired Safarova....
more
12:21 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Florida: Venus Williams needed eight match points in the final game to beat Johanna Larsson 6-3, 7-5 and give the U.S. an insurmountable 3-1 lead against Sweden in the Fed Cup World Group Playoff. It marked the first time that the 21st ranked Venus Williams, a former No. 1, has clinched a Fed Cup tie for the United States. Earlier Sunday, No. 1-ranked Serena Williams boosted the U.S. to a...
09:17 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Stuttgart: Germany came from behind to beat Serbia 3-2 in their Fed Cup playoff Sunday and qualify for next season's top-tier World group competition. Sabine Lisicki and Anna-Lena Groenefeld clinched the best-of-five series by winning the decisive doubles 6-2, 6-4 against Vesna Dolonc and Aleksandra Krunic. Mona Barthel began the comeback by defeating Bojana Jovanovski to pull Germany level at 2-2. Barthel had to win to keep Germany in the...
12:54 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Palermo: The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova rallied to beat seventh-ranked Sara Errani 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Sunday after a five-hour rain delay and cut Italy's lead to 2-1 in the Fed Cup semifinals. The eighth-ranked Kvitova won the final 11 games of the rainy match, overwhelming Errani with her attacking game. Kvitova, who has led the Czechs to the Fed Cup title the past two years, held a 26-6 edge in...
12:46 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Moscow: Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the decisive doubles match Sunday as Russia completed a 3-2 comeback victory over Slovakia to reach the Fed Cup final. Slovakia won the first two singles on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead but Maria Kirilenko and Makarova won the reverse matches to level the series before the Russians rallied to beat Dominika Cibulkova and Daniela Hantuchova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on indoor clay...
12:38 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Barcelona: Spain won a reverse singles match and a doubles match to beat Japan 4-0 in their Fed Cup World Group playoff on Sunday. Carla Suarez downed Ayumi Morita 6-3, 7-5 to give Spain an insurmountable 3-0 lead before doubles pair Anabel Medina and Lourdes Dominguez polished off Misaki Doi and Shuko Aoyama 6-4, 7-5 in a dead rubber. Suarez, who won Spain's first point by defeating Doi on Saturday,...
08:03 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Florida: Serena Williams evened the United States' Fed Cup World Group playoff match against Sweden, waiting out a long rain delay to beat Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday night. In the opening match, Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson beat Sloane Stephens 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. The top-ranked Williams finished off the 66th-ranked Larsson in 66 minutes under the lights. "I've been through many rain delays so I know what to do," Williams...
08:31 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Palermo: Roberta Vinci will face Petra Kvitova on the opening day of the Fed Cup semi-finals between Italy and the two-time defending champion Czech Republic. Vinci beat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova in straight sets in Poland last weekend to move up to a career-high ranking of No. 12. The semifinal opens Saturday with seventh-ranked Sara Errani facing the 25th-ranked Lucie Safarova. After reverse singles on Sunday on the red clay...
06:22 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Moscow: Slovakia chose the experienced Daniela Hantuchova over the higher-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova to back up Dominika Cibulkova against Russia in their Fed Cup semi-final this weekend. Cibulkova will open against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, followed by Hantuchova playing Maria Kirilenko in the second singles on indoor clay at Krylatskoye Ice Stadium. Rybarikova was picked in Friday's draw in doubles, which concludes the semi on Sunday. She and Jana Cepelova will face Russia's...
06:14 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Moscow: Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will face Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the opening singles of their Fed Cup semi-final on Saturday. Maria Kirilenko was nominated to play Slovak veteran Daniela Hantuchova in the second singles on indoor clay at Krylatskoye Ice Stadium In doubles, which concludes the semi on Sunday, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina will face the Slovak pair of Magdalena Rybarikova and Jana Cepelova. Russia beat Slovakia 3-2 in...
04:47 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Rome: Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta are back in Italy's team for a Fed Cup semi-final against the Czech Republic. The veterans sat out the first round when Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci led the Azzurre to a 3-2 comeback win over the United States. Errani and Vinci remain in the team. The semi-final is scheduled for April 20-21 on red clay at the Palermo tennis club. It's the fifth...
11:50 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Delray Beach: Serena and Venus Williams will lead the USA's Fed Cup team against Sweden on hardcourts at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on April 20-21. The team announced on Wednesday will also include No. 16-ranked Sloane Stephens and No. 27 Varvara Lepchenko. The winner will advance to the 2014 world group and have a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title next year. The losing team will be...
11:49 PM, Apr 10, 2013
The Florida-based sporting icon faces occasional criticism that she pays too little attention to her homeland. ...
08:30 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Ekaterina Makarova won the second reverse singles match and paired with Elena Vesnina to secure Russia a 3-2 victory. ...
09:15 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Kvitova rallied to overcome Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in a matchup of top-10 players to give the Czechs an insurmountable 3-0 lead. ...
09:14 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Daniela Hantuchova defeated Vesna Dolonc 6-3, 6-2 to secure a 3-1 victory for Slovakia over Serbia. ...
09:09 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Julia Goerges beat Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-2 in the first tie on Sunday. ...
09:06 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Kyra Shroff lost 4-6 3-6 to Han Sung-Hee and with that defeat India's hopes to stay in Group I ended. ...
04:49 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Cibulkova had to gift Vesna Dolonc the win, despite leading 6-4, 5-4, when she was overcome by an apparent leg muscle strain. ...
11:43 PM, Feb 09, 2013
Maria Kirilenko defeated veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the opening match. ...
11:35 PM, Feb 09, 2013
