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Italy defeats Melanie Oudin-led United States to win 2009 Fed Cup (pictures and video)
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Flavia Pennetta defeated Melanie Oudin of the United States 7-5, 6-2 on Sunday afternoon to give Italy an insurmountable 3-0 lead en route to claiming the 2009 Fed Cup championship. The Italians went on to win in a 4-0 shutout.
- View photo highlights of the 2009 Fed Cup Final at bottom of article
- Watch video of Italian reaction at bottom of article
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Click here for part 1 of this story
Hampered by the absence of Serena and Venus Williams, who opted not to participate, the US came into this weekend's matchup as heavy underdogs against an Italian squad playing at home in the southern port city of Reggio Calabria and featuring two top 20 players in the form of Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone. Without the Williams sisters, captain Mary Jo Fernandez called upon 18 year old Oudin to step in lead the American squad just as she had in February during a first round encounter with Argentina and then again in April against the Czech Republic. As the Marietta, GA native had demonstrated on both of those occasions, and of course later at the US Open with a dream run to the quarterfinals, Oudin thrives in these type of pressure-packed situations and had high hopes for the weekend.
However it was not to be for Melanie or the young American squad as the Italian tandem of Schiavone and Pennetta both managed to defeat 49th ranked Oudin in straight sets, with the 17th ranked Schiavone winning 7-6(2), 6-2 on Friday, and 12th ranked Pennetta sealing the win with her straight sets win on Sunday. Oudin said afterwards that she let her team down by losing twice on the weekend, but sounded optimistic about the future, stating "I think this was a great experience for me. I'm going to look back on it and someday when I'm in a Fed Cup final again, hopefully I'll be able to pull out the win. It will go my way instead of theirs next time."
When asked about the absence of world #1 Serena Williams and sister Venus, Oudin said to reporters "I wanted to come here. I wanted to play for my country. Other people choose different things." The reaction from Pennetta was ""We're the world champions, it's simple. We've played against some great teams this year."
The US leads the overall Fed Cup competition having won the title 17 times, however the last came in 2000 as the Russians have largely dominated in recent years having won 4 of the last 6 years with only the Italians (who defeated Russia 4-1 in this year's semifinals) interrupting their run, having won in 2006 to go along with this weekend's triumph. The US squad will travel to France in February of 2010 for a first round encounter in hopes of advancing on towards its record 18th championship.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Italy celebrates its second Fed Cup win since 2006
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