flavia pennetta

Schiavone defeated Venus 7-5, 7-3, then countered a strong comeback from Serena to defeat the younger sibling 7-3, 10-8, 8-6.

Flavia Pennetta also beat Venus, whose strap broke on her dress before a sellout crowd of 11,000. Pennetta lost to Serena.

Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP Italy secured its second Fed Cup title in four years today after Flavia Pennetta comfortably beat US Open quarter-finalist Melanie Oudin 7-5, 6-2.

The experienced Italians took an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the young United States team in the best-of-five series on an outdoor clay court at the Rocco Polimeni club.

Defending champion Serena Williams has advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals, setting up a showdown against Kim Clijsters.

The No. 2-seeded Williams beat No. 10 Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-3 Tuesday night to improve to 23-1 in Grand Slam singles matches this season.

Williams has won three of the past four major championships.