09/02/2011 23:20 CEST - Fed Cup

Schiavone & Pennetta break "Australian" spell

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Weather in Tasmania seemed set for an epic day of tennis, with wind, sun and rain hitting Hobart during yesterday’s first day of the FedCup quarter finals between Australia and Italy. And such it was.
In a thrilling opening match, novice Jasmina Groth produced an astonishing come back to shock world n. 4 Francesca Schiavone in a two-and-a-half match with a 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 6-3 win.

Despite being a set and a break down, the world n.31 did not crumble and continued to play her aggressive although at times erratic tennis to dominate the second and third sets, gifting Australia with a 1-0 lead.

Slovakian-born Groth, who became Australian citizen only 15 months ago, described the importance of winning her debut match for Australia: “'I can't really describe what it is or how it feels. You don't play for yourself, you play for the team, you play for the country. So if I was to beat Francesca at a tournament, I would be absolutely ecstatic, but beating her here is even better than actually in a tournament. Here, I was trying to win and show what I can do and for everyone who came to watch to make them proud, so that's what I did”.

Prior to the match, Schiavone had perceived the threat posed by the 23-year old, whose hasty playing style can punish or be punished: ”I think she has to keep going to work,” said Schiavone after her loss, while admitting her own performance had been too passive. “She plays one point good, one point not, so if she can play much more consistent it will be much more dangerous, but today it was enough”.

With pressure building up on Italy after the first match, it was Flavia Pennetta who came to rescue the Fed Cup defending champions, by edging world 5th-ranked Samantha Stosur 7-6(7-5), 6-7(5-7), 6-4, thus levelling the score to a 1-1 tie and extending her personal head-to-head winning streak against the Queenslander.

Pennetta, who had never dropped a set to Stosur in their previous three encounters, played a match of great intensity, handling well the Asutralian’s heavy top-spins, big serves and forehands.
The Italian, n.16 of the world ranking, had to chase for most of the match, but was able to get the upper hand in the crucial points, with a frustrated Stosur, failing to capitalise her chances when she could not serve out the first two sets and was broken to love.

“Any time you serve for the first two sets of a match and you end up losing, it's obviously disappointing,” Stosur said. “I wanted to get a better result against her today, and it was better on the scoreboard, but still not a win.”

On Sunday, although the sold-out crowd at the Domain Tennis Centre in Hobart tried their best, two-time defending champion Italy was just too good for the Aussies.

World No. 4 Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur 76(1) 36 75 in a rematch of the 2010 Roland Garros final, and then Flavia Pennetta, winner of the decisive point over USA in last year's final, secured victory for Italy by defeating Fed Cup debutante Jarmila Groth 63 62 to give Italy an unassailable 3-2 lead and set up a semifinal encounter against either France or Russia( at the moment. France leads Russia 2-0 in Moscow in a tie to be completed later today). For the team led by Corrado barazzutti, this is the first win over six meetings against the Aussies.

In the doubles, Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci came back from one set down to defeat the Australians Anastasia Rodionova and Rennae Stubbs 26 76(1) 64. It was a historic doubles match for both team as Vinci won her 16th consecutive doubles without a loss, tying a Fed Cup record, while the veteran Stubbs completed her professional tennis career. It was the Australian's 17th year in the competition and she was honoured in an emotional ceremony on the court.

Schiavone set up the victory by beating Stosur in two hours 44 minutes. Stosur had her fair share of chances in the match which would have put Australia in a very good position. Stosur failed to convert more than one of 11 break-point opportunities against Schiavone.

Before playing Stosur, the tennis ironwoman had spent a total of nine hours, 20 minutes on court in her three previous matches over the past fortnight - including a record-setting four hour, 44-minute Australian Open win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

But all heart, Schiavone remained with Stosur for a further two hours and 33 tension-filled minutes before breaking the Australian for the only time, in the very last game of the match, to secure a vital win for the top-seeded Italians.

After an opening set of the highest quality, Stosur played a horrible tiebreaker to gift Schiavone the advantage in the match.

Her footwork non-existent, the Australian committed seven unforced errors before tossing her racquet in disgust at the changeover.

But she quickly regrouped to achieve the first break of the match in the fourth game of the second set.

Having already squandered seven chances, Stosur delivered a forehand return winner on her eighth opportunity to forge a 3-1 advantage.

Stosur grew more and more frustrated as over and over she missed break-point chances in the deciding set. Stosur saved three match points in the 10th game of the deciding set and another with an ace in the 12th game before finally succumbing netting a a forehand on the Italian's fifth match point.

"It's obviously very disappointing to come here and lose two matches, especially when they're so tight like that," Stosur said and she added: "You feel like you're letting your team down if you can't win a singles match over the weekend".

As for Pennetta, she opened up a 4-1 lead in the first set but then dropped serve and allowed Groth, who played her first Fed Cup for Australia on Saturday, a slight opening. The Australian closed to within one game but Pennetta then broke serve again to go up 5-3 and serving out the set. The Italian jumped to a quick lead in the second set and her greater experience in the competition paid huge dividends. Groth certainly tried to make inroads but to no avail as Pennetta stuck the ball so crisply. So, Apulian player took only 66 minutes to win her tie and make the victory sure.

"We are really happy about this match (result). It was really tough for everyone here. We're both really good teams. We can play singles, doubles, you can do whatever you want with our four and also with the Australians."

Michele Melchionna and Staff