Champion Russians ready for host Italians

Tennis Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - Castellaneta Marina, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reigning two-time champion Russians are prepared to battle host Italy in a Fed Cup semifinal showdown this weekend.

The best-of-five tie will open with a pair of singles rubbers on Saturday, as Russian Anna Chakvetadze will face Italy's best Flavia Pennetta, followed by a bout between Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and the host nation's Francesca Schiavone.

On Sunday, reverse singles will pit Kuznetsova against Pennetta and Chakvetadze versus Schiavone, followed by a potentially-deciding doubles encounter between Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Nadia Petrova and Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, who captured a singles title in Barcelona last week.

The tie is being staged outdoors on red clay at Nova Yardinia.

Team Russia is captained by Shamil Tarpischev, while the Italian skipper is Corrado Barazzutti.

The Russians are 4-0 all-time against Italy. They last met in the 2007 final, with Russia coming out on top 4-0 in Moscow. Their last meeting in Italy resulted in a 4-1 2005 quarterfinal victory for the Italians.

Russia has won two straight and four of the last five Fed Cup titles. The only other winner in the last five years was Italy, in 2006.

The Russia-Italy winner will meet the USA-Czech Republic victor in the final in November.

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