ESPN Tennis

Jill Craybas dominated Betina Jozami in straight sets Saturday to give the United States a 1-0 lead in their first-round Fed Cup match against Argentina, in Surprise, Ariz.

Craybas, the top player for the U.S., broke an early 2-2 deadlock in the first set to win 6-2, 6-1 in a match that lasted just over 90 minutes. The second match Saturday in the best-of-five competition in Surprise, Arizona, will pit 17-year-old Melanie Oudin against Argentia's Gisela Dolka.

The remaining three matches are scheduled for Sunday.

In Orleans, France, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone won singles matches to give Italy a 2-0 lead over France 2-0.

Pennetta saved a match point to beat former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 before Schiavone defeated Alize Cornet 6-1, 2-6, 8-6.

In the second-set tiebreaker, Pennetta hit a passing shot wide to give Mauresmo a match point. The Italian contested the decision and received a warning for verbal abuse. She risked losing the match on a penalty point when she directed a gesture at the chair umpire.

Mauresmo lost focus after the call, double-faulting and making an unforced error to give Pennetta another set point that the Italian converted.

The 12th-ranked Pennetta rallied from 4-1 down in the third set and broke Mauresmo at 4-4 to serve out for the match.

The reverse singles and the doubles are scheduled for Sunday. The winner of the best-of-five series will play Russia or China in the semifinals on April 25-26.

In Perth, Australia, Jelena Dokic and Samantha Stosur had straight-set singles wins to lead Australia past New Zealand and into April's Fed Cup World Group II playoff.

Dokic, who advanced to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open last week, beat Diane Hollands of New Zealand 6-4, 6-4. Dokic trailed 3-0 in the first set and 2-0 in the second.

Stosur then clinched the Asia/Oceania Zone I playoff promotion match for Australia with a 6-1, 6-4 win over New Zealand No. 1 Marina Erakovic. Stosur is ranked No. 43 and Erakovic 57th.

Australia's Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs beat Kairangi Vano and Shona Lee 6-2, 6-2 in doubles to give Australia its fourth straight 3-0 win at the tournament.

"I am happy with the way I have handled matches mentally this week," Dokic said. "I didn't play well [today] but you have to win even if you don't play well. I won the key points so I am happy with that."

Dokic has a 12-2 singles record playing Fed Cup for Australia and won all three of her matches in Perth this week.

Australia has beaten New Zealand five times in a row in Fed Cup play since 1965.

The Australians reached the Group I final by dropping only one set in leading Pool B. New Zealand beat Indonesia 2-1 on Friday to top Pool A.

India was relegated to Group II after it was beaten 3-0 by Taiwan on Saturday.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press