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.
|
Sat, 11/06/2010 - 11:10 by Rakhi
San Diego -- Coco Vandeweghe, a professional for 18 months, was given the first match for the United States in the Fed Cup final against Italy.
Vandeweghe, who turns 19 next month, will go against French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, a 30-year-old veteran of 12 professional seasons.
That match kicks off the best-of-five Fed Cup final in San Diego.
Saturday's other singles match has U.S. player Bethanie Mattek-Sands facing Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
Sunday's schedule calls for reverse singles with Mattek-Sands playing Schiavone and Vandeweghe going against Pennetta.
|
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 02:04 by Prince damin
Istanbul, Turkey -- No. 1-seeded Francesca Schiavone was defeated in straight sets Thursday by Elena Baltacha in second-round play of the Istanbul Cup in Turkey.
Baltacha broke Schiavone's serve in the first game of each set in a 6-4, 6-2 victory. She totaled five breaks in the match and won more 53 percent of the points when Schiavone served.
Schiavone is 1-3 in matches since her stunning run to a French Open championship in early June.
Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova breezed past Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-2, despite five double faults and two service breaks Thursday. However, she piled up five breaks of Rybarikova.
Pavlyuchenkova draws Sorana Cirstea in Friday's quarterfinals. Cirstea topped Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.
|
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 21:50 by Inderjit Singh
Daytona Beach -- The Williams sisters remain at the top of the world women's tennis rankings and Italians Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta are also in the Top 10.
Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking for the last 32 weeks, her sister Venus is a solid No. 2 and, with Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva holding onto the Nos. 3-5 spots, respectively, the top of the rankings are unchanged after the French Open.
However, Schiavone, who won in Paris, jumped from 17th to sixth, for her first Top 10 ranking, and Pennetta improved five spots to No. 10.
|
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 22:26 by Inderjit Singh
Paris -- Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam title Saturday, defeating Australian Samantha Stosur in the French Open final.
Schiavone used a strong serve to keep Stosur on the run in first set and then rallied after falling behind 4-1 in the second frame to rack up her fourth career championship.
Schiavone -- whose achievement also marked the first appearance of an Italian woman in any Grand Slam final -- gained momentum after she countered an attempted drop shot at 2-2 in the second-set tiebreaker, then poured it on grab the French Open crown on the clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris.
|
Tue, 06/01/2010 - 22:52 by Inderjit Singh
Paris -- Francesca Schiavone qualified for her first major-tournament semifinal with an upset Tuesday of third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki at the French Open.
Schiavone, seeded 17th, broke Wozniacki's serve six times in a 6-2, 6-3 victory. She hasn't lost a set since the first set of her first-round match. She is the first Italian women's player to reach the semis at the French Open since 1954.
Schiavone had three breaks in each set Tuesday in a steady performance in which she committed just 13 unforced errors and had a 25-10 edge over Wozniacki in winners.
She'll go against fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. Dementieva rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory Tuesday over 19th-seeded Nadia Petrova.
|
Sat, 04/24/2010 - 21:44 by Inderjit Singh
Rome -- Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta each had straight-set wins Saturday, giving Italy a 2-0 lead in its Fed Cup semifinals against the Czech Republic.
The wins on an outdoor clay court in Rome put the Italians on the verge of taking the best-of-five series and earning a second consecutive Fed Cup final. They won last year's title.
Pennetta led off for Italy with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Lucie Hradecka, after Hradecka jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Pennetta was able to take control.
The second match was dominated by Schiavone, who routed Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-2 in just more than an hour. Schiavone lost just 15 points over seven service games and had just 10 unforced errors in the match.
|
Sat, 04/17/2010 - 21:50 by Inderjit Singh
Barcelona -- Top-seeded Francesca Schiavone rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory Saturday over Roberta Vinci in the title match of the $220,000 Barcelona Ladies Open in Spain.
Schiavone needed just an hour to complete the romp in which she piled up five service breaks and lost only 12 points in her seven service games. She collected the first break in the match's fourth game and breezed through from there.
She was able to capitalize on Vinci's serve issues. Vinci won just 39 percent of the points off her first serves. Schiavone, on the other hand, won 71 percent of the points on serve.
Schiavone didn't drop a set in the tournament and lost only five games over the four sets in the semifinals and finals.
|
Wed, 02/10/2010 - 09:32 by Rakhi Kaptiyal
Paris -- No. 4 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy advanced Tuesday in second-round action at the $700,000 Open GDF Suez tennis tournament in Paris.
Schiavone posted an easy 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of overmatched Russian qualifier Vesna Manasieva on the indoor hardcourts at Stade Coubertin.
Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Shahar Peer of Israel blasted French crowd favorite Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-1.
In a somewhat surprising finish, Swiss elder stateswoman Patty Schnyder downed seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Also getting a second-round win was American teenager Melanie Oudin, who registered a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
|
Mon, 02/08/2010 - 09:35 by Rakhi Kaptiyal
Kharkiv, Ukraine -- Francesca Schiavone sent defending champion Italy on to the Fed Cup semifinals with a three-set victory Sunday against Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.
Schiavone dropped the first set in the match in Ukraine but cruised in the next two, winning 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
The win put the Italians ahead 3-1 in the best-of-five matches and moved them into the semis against the Czech Republic, which scored a quarterfinal win over the German team.
Earlier, Flavia Pennetta had given Italy a 2-1 lead with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) decision over Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna's younger sister.
Italy beat the United States in last year's Fed Cup final.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
|
Fri, 02/05/2010 - 21:18 by Inderjit Singh
Kharkiv -- World No. 18 Francesca Schiavone was given the lead-off position for Italy, which begins defense of its Fed Cup title with a quarterfinal series in Ukraine.
Schiavone will go against 26th-ranked Alona Bondarenko in Saturday's first match of the best-of-five series. Bondarenko's sister Kateryna, ranked No. 33, meets 12th-ranked Flavia Pennetta in the second singles match.
The players switch opponents for singles matches Sunday with a doubles match pitting Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci against Ukrainians Mariya Koryttseva and Viktoriya Kutuzova as the fifth, and possibly deciding, match.
The Fed Cup quarterfinal is scheduled for an indoor hard court in Kharkiv.
|
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 12:34 by shalini.bahadur
Reggio Calabria, Italy -- Straight-set victories Saturday by Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone over American opponents put Italy on the verge of a Fed Cup title.
The wins put Italy up 2-0 in the best-of-five Fed Cup title series in Italy. If either Pennetta or Schiavone win their singles matches Sunday or the Italian team takes the double match, Italy will win its second Fed Cup championship.
Pennetta opened the series with a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Alexa Glatch. Pennetta had a pair of service breaks to take the first match. Glatch, however, broke back to open the second set only to have Pennetta take the next six games and the match.
|
