Fed Cup: Pennetta to play Chakvetadze
CASTELLANETA MARINA, Italy -- Flavia Pennetta will face Anna Chakvetadze in Saturday's opening singles match in the Fed Cup semifinals between Italy and Russia.
The draw Friday also pitted Italy's Francesca Schiavone against ninth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second match on the outdoor clay near Taranto on the Adriatic coast.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? The reverse singles will be held Sunday before the final doubles match featuring Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy against Nadia Petrova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The winner of the best-of-five series will face the United States or the Czech Republic in the final on Nov. 7-8.
The Russians have won four of the last five Fed Cup titles but have injury problems. Vera Zvonareva was dropped because of an ankle injury, while former No. 1 Maria Sharapova is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Top-ranked Dinara Safina was left off the team.
Italy won the Fed Cup title in 2006.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
