MOSCOW – World number three Vera Zvonareva put Russia into the Fed Cup final by beating Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-2 here on Sunday. That gave the Russians an unassailable 3-0 lead over the defending champions having won both the opening singles on Saturday.
“I took account of my mistakes in the first set and improved on them,” Zvonareva said. “I wanted so much to win today in front of our supporters to give our team the deciding point. “I’m happy to win and to put our team into the final. It was one of the most eomotional wins of my career.”
Zvonareva, losing finalist last year at Wimbledon and in the US Open, started the match with an immediate break and took a 2-0 lead, but Errani broke back in the sixth game to level at three games all. But the Russian broke again in the ninth game to take the opening set in 45 minutes. Games went with serve in the second set until the fifth game, when Zvonareva moved up a gear and broke her opponent’s serve twice to take the set and the match.
In the Fed Cup final Russia will face the winner of the other semi-final showdown between Czech Republic and Belgium which was level 1-1 after Saturday’s action. Russia and Italy have dominated the premier women’s team competition in recent times winning all seven titles contested since 2004, with Russia triumphant in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 and Italy taking the prize in 2006, 2009 and 2010.
Italian hopes, however, were badly hit by the absence of their top players. Flavia Pennetta, who is 20th in the WTA rankings, missed the match in Moscow because of an injury, while world number four, the reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, opted out to better prepare for the clay-court season.
