Two singles victories of Roberta Vinci, including the deciding one today, and one triumph of Sara Errani, ensured Italy’s place in the 50th anniversary Fed Cup final which will take place on November 2-3 in Italy.
The Fed Cup semifinal tie between Italy and the Czech Republic was extended to Monday and the team playing on home soil capitalized on the commanding 2-0 lead they earned on Saturday. Czech Petra Kvitova kept her country in the game with a victory over Sara Errani on Sunday, but Roberta Vinci battled past Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-7(2) 6-3 to earn Italy a 3-1 triumph. After sealing the opening set and leading 2-0 in the second, Vinci handed the momentum to Safarova and allowed the Czech to serve for the second set at 5-3. Having missed that chance, Safarova forced a decider in the tiebreak. In the third set Vinci gave up a 2-0 lead but then broke serve to lead 5-3 and brought her team to victory on the third match point.
Italy’s opponent in the Fed Cup final will be Russia, whose team astonishingly recovered from a 0-2 deficit that pressured them after the first day of action against the Slovak Republic.
