Fed Cup Final: Francesca Schiavone beats Melanie Oudin to give Italy a 2-0 lead

Fed Cup Final: Francesca Schiavone beats Melanie Oudin to give Italy a 2-0 lead

Francesca Schiavone defeated Melanie Oudin 7-6 6-2 to give Italy the second point at the Fed Cup Final.

Flavia Pennetta scored the first point after beating Alexa Glatch earlier today.

Schiavone was 4-2 down in the first set when the match was suspended for two hours due to rain. When the players returned to the court the Italian came back stronger and immediately broke Oudin with an exquisite drop shot.

The young American then hit the net in the tiebreak, allowing Schiavone to take it 7-2.

Oudin broke in the first game of the second set but lost the advantage straight away when she missed with a sliced backhand.

Schiavone then broke to love to move 3-1 up and although she again carelessly dropped her serve, the win was hers.

“Even at 4-2 in the first set there wasn’t that big a difference between us, it was very balanced. Afterwards she made a couple of mistakes and I quickly took advantage and that’s through my experience.” schiavone said.

Oudin said the rain break had played a part in her defeat.

“I think it definitely helped her. She came out and started playing a lot better. She wasn’t missing anything when she came back out. She changed her game a little bit. I started a little slow … you can’t control the weather.” she commented.

Source Reuters
Photo AP