Pennetta starts off Fed Cup for Italy

The best-of-five semifinal will feature a pair of singles matches Saturday on an outdoor clay court in Rome. The schedule calls for reverse singles and a doubles match Sunday.

Pennetta was given the opening match against Czech Lucie Hradecka, ranked No. 74 in the world. The second singles match sends Italian Francesca Schiavone, who is ranked No. 17, against Lucie Safarova, the world No. 38.

Schiavone is coming off a clay-tournament victory last week in Spain.

Sunday's schedule has Pennetta playing Safarova and Schiavone going against Hradecka. The potential series-deciding doubles match has Czechs Petra Kvitova and Kveta Peschke facing Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

Italy is shooting for its third Fed Cup title in five years. The Italians won their first in 2006 and took last year's title with a finals win over the United States. The Czech Republic has won the Fed Cup five times, all coming in the 1975-88 time frame.

The winner of the Italy-Czech Republic semifinal advances to the Fed Cup title series against either Russia or the United States. The finals are to be played Nov. 6-7.

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