Saturday, February 6, 2010

Ukraine ties Italy 1-1 in Fed Cup play

Fed Cup defending champion Italy is in a 1-1 tie with Ukraine after today's World Group matches. Alona Bondarenko defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4, while Flavia Pennetta defeated Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-3. Tomorrow's matches will feature the same players in a reverse draw.

The USA is 2-0 against France. Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Alize Cornet 7-6, 7-5. Cornet had a 5-2, 40-0 lead in the first set, but lost all three set points. She also had a 5-3 mini-break in the tiebreak. Fed Cup just doesn't seem like a good venue for Cornet, does it?

In the next match, Melanie Oudin defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4. Oudin has been working on her backhand slice, and it showed in this match. She hit sixteen forehand winners, but no backhand winners. Parmentier hit ten aces. Oudin's mental recovery from point to point was excellent, as was her footwork, as one would expect.

The Czech Republic and Germany are 1-1: Petra Kvitova defeated Andrea Petkovic, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld won her match against Lucie Safarova. Also in a 1-1 tie are Russia and Serbia. Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic defeated Alisa Kleybanova.

In World Group II, Spain and Australia split matches. Sam Stosur defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in three sets, and Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated Casey Dellacqua. It took Yanina Wickmayer three sets to defeat Marta Domachowska; in the second rubber, Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Kirsten Flipkens, giving Belgium and Poland a 1-1 tie.

Also in World Group II, Estonia is up 2-0 on Argentina, and the Slovak Republic leads China 2-0. Neither Argentina nor China has its top players competing.

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