The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Italy overcomes Spain, meets Belgium

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Monday, Jul 17, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Italy overcomes Spain, meets Belgium

Zaragoza: Italy reached its first Fed Cup final on Sunday when Flavia Pennetta overcame Spain's Lourdes Dominguez-Lino 6-2, 6-4 to give her team an unassailable 3-1 lead in their semifinal.

Italy will play Belgium in the final in September after the latter beat the United States in the other semifinal.

Spain, trailing 2-0 after Saturday's opening singles rubbers, pulled a point back when Anabel Medina Garrigues powered to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy's number one Francesca Schiavone.

But Pennetta produced a gritty display to see off Dominguez-Lino in the searing heat on the clay surface in Zaragoza.

In the other semifinal at Ostend in Belgium, the host took a winning 3-0 lead over the United States after Kim Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens both won their opening matches on Saturday and Clijsters routed Vania King 6-0, 6-1 on Sunday.

Flipkens, 122nd in the world rankings, beat 70th ranked Jill Craybass 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the first match of the two-day clash. In the second match, World No. 2 Kim Clijsters defeat Jamea Jackson 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The results: Semifinals: Italy 3 bt Spain 1 (Francesca Schiavone lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-2; Flavia Pennetta bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2, 6-4).

Belgium 3 leads USA 0 (Kirsten Flipkens bt Jill Craybas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Kim Clijsters bt Jamea Jackson 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Kim Clijsters bt Vania King 6-0, 6-1).

World group play-offs: Japan 5 bt Austria 0 (Aiko Nakamura bt Barbara Schwartz 6-2, 7-5; Akiko Morigami bt Nikola Hofmanova 6-2, 6-3; Shinobu Asagoe & Ai Sugiyama bt Melanie Klaffner & Barbara Schwartz 6-3, 1-6, 6-1).

China 4 bt Germany 1 (Li Na bt Kathrin Woerle 7-5, 7-5; Sun Tiantian lost to Tatiana Malek 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Zheng Jie & Yan Zi bt Kristina Barrois & Jasmin Woehr 6-3, 6-4).

France 3 bt Czech Republic 2 (Tatiana Golovin lost to Nicole Vaidisova 6-1, 3-6, 11-9; Nathalie Dechy bt Lucie Safarova 5-7, 6-3, 9-7; Nathalie Dechy lost to Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-3; Tatiana Golovin bt Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1; Severine Bremond & Tatiana Golovin bt Iveta Benesova & Kveta Peschke 6-4, 7-6(2)).

Russia 2 leads Croatia 0 (Anna Chakvetadze bt Ivana Lisjak 7-6(2), 7-6(3); Elena Dementieva bt Sanja Ancic 6-3, 7-5). — Agencies

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