Saturday's opening singles rubber at
the 2009 Fed Cup final will pit American Alexa Glatch against world No. 11
Italian Flavia Pennetta. The United States and host Italy will decide the
champion in a best-of-five affair on an outdoor clay court at Rocco Polimeni.
Glatch, ranked 132nd in the world, was forced into playing singles this week
when world No. 1 American superstar Serena Williams announced her withdrawal
from this week's final last week.
The 20-year-old Glatch stunned Pennetta in 6-1, 6-1 fashion in the opening
round at this year's French Open, but has dropped her last six matches overall
at the WTA level.
Glatch-Pennetta will be followed by Saturday's second opening singles bout
between surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin and world No. 16
Italian Francesca Schiavone. Oudin is ranked 49th in the world.
On Sunday in Reggio Calabria, the reverse singles will pit Oudin against
Pennetta and Glatch versus the veteran Schiavone, while the potentially-
deciding doubles rubber would have an American tandem of Liezel Huber and
Vania King facing an Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
The underdog Americans are captained by Mary Joe Fernandez, while the Italian
contingent is headed up by Corrado Barazzutti.
The U.S. is a perfect 9-0 all-time versus Italy.
The Americans own a record 17 Fed Cup titles, but haven't captured the trophy
since 2000. The Italians, meanwhile, are playing in their third final in four
years and seeking their second title, with their first-ever championship
coming in 2006.
Team USA is appearing in its first Fed Cup final since 2003.
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