Mon, 11/08/2010 - 10:48 by harsheeb
San Diego -- Flavia Pennetta wrapped up a Fed Cup final win for Italy Sunday by downing American CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets.
Pennetta turned in an emphatic victory 6-1, 6-2 decision over Vandeweghe in Sunday's second reverse-singles match. Combined with Saturday's singles wins by Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone over U.S. opponents, Italy successfully defended its Fed Cup title.
Melanie Oudin kept the American hopes alive when she took to the indoor hard court at the San Diego Sports Arena against Schiavone with the United States trailing the best-of-five series 2-0.
Oudin, who didn't play Saturday, dispatched the reigning French Open champion 6-3, 6-1, to keep the Americans in it.
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Sun, 11/07/2010 - 09:53 by Rakhi
San Diego -- Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta breezed to wins Saturday, handing Italy a commanding 2-0 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup Final.
Reigning French Open champion Schiavone quickly dispatched 18-year-old CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-4, in one of the day's matches. Pennetta downed Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, in the other.
Vandeweghe was tapped by U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez for the final over the more experienced Melanie Oudin, but the American youngster was broken four times by Schiavone in her Fed Cup debut.
Pennetta had to expend a bit more effort against Mattek-Sands but still managed to give defending champion Italy a big lead in the best-of-five final at the San Diego Sports Arena.
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Mon, 07/19/2010 - 09:32 by Rakhi
Palermo, Italy -- Kaia Kanepi of Estonia pulled off an upset of top-seeded Flavia Pennetta Sunday, claiming the Palermo International championship.
The fifth-seeded Kanepi registered a 6-4, 6-3 decision to collect her first career title, surpassing her previous bests of two second-place finishes at the 2006 Hasselt event and the 2008 Japan Open.
Kanepi was able to break Pennetta's serve six times, including once in the opening set and again for a 4-2 lead in the second set. Kanepi held at love to assure her first tournament triumph.
Pennetta failed in her bid to repeat as Palermo champ and take 10th career WTA title.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
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Wed, 07/14/2010 - 02:59 by Pankaj Damin
Palermo, Italy -- No. 1-seed Flavia Pennetta rolled to an easy first-round win Tuesday at the Palermo International tennis tournament in Italy.
Pennetta needed just 64 minutes in a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Kathrin Woerle. Pennetta won 63 percent of the points in the match and lost only eight points over her eight service games.
Second-seeded Aravane Rezai had a much more difficult time escaping with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win over Simona Halep. Rezai dropped serve six times in the 2 1/2-hour match.
No. 3-seeded Sara Errani wrapped up a 12-match schedule Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mariya Koryttseva.
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Thu, 07/08/2010 - 22:37 by Inderjit Singh
Bastad -- Flavia Pennetta's tough straight-set win completed a sweep of the top four seeds in quarterfinal play Thursday at the $220,000 Collector Swedish Open.
Pennetta, the No. 1 seed, needed 2 hours to get past Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-4, fighting off 10 break points. Pennetta won just 11 more points (87-76) over the course of the match but was able to cash in two of nine break-point chances she forced on Craybas.
Other quarterfinal winners Thursday were second-seeded Aravane Rezai, No. 3-seeded Lucie Safarova and No. 4 Gisela Dulko.
Rezai topped Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-1, 6-4 behind six service breaks and winning 56 percent of the points on Santonja's serve.
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Wed, 07/07/2010 - 22:08 by Inderjit Singh
Bastad -- No. 1-seed Flavia Pennetta lost only two games in advancing to the quarterfinals of the $220,000 Collector Swedish Open clay court tennis tournament.
Pennetta rolled by Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-1, piling up five breaks in Stephens' six service games. Pennetta lost only four points on serve in the first set and 10 in the second, despite having her serve broken once.
Second-seeded Aravane Rezai had five service breaks in a 6-4, 6-2 win over Renata Voracova but No. 3-seeded Lucie Safarova and fourth-seeded Gisela Dulko each needed three sets to advance.
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Tue, 07/06/2010 - 22:39 by Inderjit Singh
Bastad -- Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta dropped just two games Tuesday in rolling to a first-round victory at the Collector Swedish Open clay-court tennis tournament.
Pennetta needed just 47 minutes to dispatch Anna Brazhnikova 6-2, 6-0. Pennetta won 68 percent of the points in the match, including 80 percent in the second set when she lost only six points.
Pennetta dropped serve once but piled up six breaks of Brazhnikova's serve.
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Sun, 04/25/2010 - 22:00 by Inderjit Singh
Rome -- Flavia Pennetta Sunday won her second straight-set victory against the Czech Republic and locked up a second consecutive Fed Cup finals appearance for Italy.
Pennetta opened the best-of-five Fed Cup semifinals, played on an outdoor clay court in Rome, with a 6-4, 7-5 victory Saturday over Lucie Hradecka and sealed the series with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 triumph Sunday over Petra Kvitova.
That guaranteed Italy will be back in the Fed Cup finals Nov. 6-7 against either Russia or the United States, whose series was tied 1-1 after Saturday's matches. Italy defeated the United States in the 2009 finals. The Italians also won the championship in 2006.
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Sat, 04/24/2010 - 21:41 by Inderjit Singh
Rome -- Defending champion Italy opted to start this weekend's semifinal series with world No. 15 Flavia Pennetta on the court against the Czech Republic.
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-court tournament victory last week in Spain.
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Fri, 04/23/2010 - 22:19 by Inderjit Singh
Rome -- Defending champion Italy opted to start this weekend's semifinal series with world No. 15 Flavia Pennetta on the court against the Czech Republic.
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 tournament victory last week in Spain.
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Sun, 04/11/2010 - 08:04 by harsheeb
Marabella -- Flavia Pennetta will take on Carla Suarez Navarro for the title of the Andalucia Tennis Experience after both won their semifinal matches Saturday.
Pennetta, the second-seeded Italian, easily dispatched countrywoman Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-1 in one semifinal while No. 8 seed Suarez Navarro had to stage a rally to defeat fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the day's other match.
Suarez Navarro's struggle mirrored the comeback she staged Friday in her quarterfinals victory over Tatjana Malek. Her Saturday match took more than two hours and sent the 38th-ranked Spaniard to the Andalucia finals for the second straight year.
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Sun, 02/07/2010 - 09:42 by shalini.bahadur
Kharkiv, Ukraine -- Flavia Pennetta's win over Kateryna Bondarenko Saturday drew defending champion Italy into a 1-1 tie with Ukraine in a Fed Cup quarterfinal.
The event, at Kharkiv, Ukraine, kept a partisan crowd thrilled at the Palace of Sports "Lokomotiv" over Ukraine's first appearance in the Fed Cup's World Group.
Earlier, Alona Bondarenko was a 6-1, 6-4 victor against Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
Saturday's winners -- Pennetta and Bondarenko -- play in one singles match Sunday.
The other singles match pits Schiavone against Kateryna Bondarenko.
Sunday's doubles match is Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva and Viktoria Kutuzova against Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
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