Italy claims 2nd Fed Cup crown

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy – Italy secured its second Fed Cup title in four years Sunday after Flavia Pennetta comfortably beat US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin 7-5, 6-2.

The experienced Italians took an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the young United States team in the best-of-five series on an outdoor clay court at the Rocco Polimeni club.

Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone also scored straight-set singles victories Saturday and Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci completed the shutout by beating Liezel Huber and Vania King in doubles, 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 (champions tiebreaker).

The fourth singles rubber was scrapped after Italy clinched the title.

The US was without both Serena and Venus Williams, who opted not to play after meeting in the season-ending tour championships final last weekend.

Italy beat France in the opening round and ousted defending champion Russia in the semifinals, but still faced questions over the value of their victory without the Williams sisters.

“We’re the world champions, it’s simple,” Pennetta said. “We’ve played against some great teams this year.”

The US has won a record 17 Fed Cups but is on a dry streak stretching back to 2000. Italy won its first Fed Cup title in 2006 over Belgium and Justine Henin and lost the 2007 final to Russia.

The Italians celebrated this time by launching captain Corrado Barazzutti up and down into the air, then ran around the court dousing each other with water bottles.

“These girls are incredible,” Barazzutti said. “They’ve written another chapter in Italian tennis history. I think they’re one of the best teams in the history of Italian sports – not many other teams have won two titles in four years.

“The first victory was extraordinary and this second one goes beyond expectations.”

The 11th-ranked Pennetta opened the series by beating 20-year-old Alexa Glatch and the 16th-ranked Schiavone made it 2-0 with a win over the 18-year-old Oudin. (AP)