Red, White and Green: Italy wins another Fed Cup

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—By her own admission, Melanie Oudin has had a lifetime of learning over the last year. The 19-year-old from Marietta, Georgia has learned that constant travel is hard, that she doesn’t like Europe or Asia, that it’s tough to have a bull’s-eye on your back all the time and that some victories—like the one she notched today over world No. 7 Francesca Schiavone to keep the U.S. Fed Cup team alive in the final against Italy at the San Diego Sports Arena—are sweeter than others.

Oudin also learned the cold, hard truth that, no matter how spectacularly you play and how mammoth your stunning 6-3, 6-1 victory over the reigning French Open champ is at the time, the joy can be erased within a fleeting moment. Which is exactly what happened when Flavia Pennetta picked apart Fed Cup debutante CoCo Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2 to give Italy an unbeatable 3-1 victory and their second consecutive Fed Cup title. The last time a nation won back-to-back Fed Cup titles was when Russia did the double in 2007 and 2008.

“I am very lucky captain because I have a great team and it’s easy,” said Italian henchman Corrado Barazzutti, who led Italy to the 1976 Davis Cup title alongside Adriano Panatta. “I’m proud that in five years we have won three Fed Cups and reached one final. But it’s easy to be captain of this team because they are very strong.”

If there was a feeling of resignation among the American delegation following Saturday’s losses by Vandeweghe (to Schiavone) and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (to Pennetta), it was quickly erased when Oudin took the court. Admittedly irked when Fernandez chose to play Vandeweghe on opening day, Oudin turned a negative into a positive when Fernandez gave her the news early this morning that rather than playing the second, and possibly meaningless, match against Pennetta, she would be taking over for Mattek-Sands, who suffered leg cramps and from the effects of a lingering sinus infection during her straight-set loss to Pennetta on Saturday.

“It kind of stunk not to get to play the first day,” admitted Oudin, who, after captivating the tennis world with her surprise run to the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Open, struggled this year, losing 13 first-round matches, including in four of her last six tournaments heading into Fed Cup. “I felt bad because I had played in every Fed Cup this year. But it wasn’t my choice. It was Mary Joe’s and she felt like that was best for the team. Of course, I’m not going to complain about it….But I think not playing yesterday and watching them play made me more determined to come into today and win for my team.”

Oudin didn’t just win, she overwhelmed Schiavone. After Oudin broke serve following a 14-point second game, the 3,245 fans (many of whom flew in from Italy to bolster their countrywomen), including Hall of Famers Billie Jean King, Francois Durr and 89-year-old Pancho Segura, suddenly came alive. Screeching across the hard court in red, white and blue sneakers with “Go USA” emblazoned on the back, Oudin sliced backhands past a startled Schiavone at the net and pounded winners up and down the sidelines.

The two players traded five breaks of serve in the first seven games of the match until Oudin held for 5-3, then held three set points on Schiavone’s serve before converting on the third. Oudin then went on a tear, winning the first 12 points of the second set and racing to a 3-0 lead. Even the vocal Italian fans couldn’t stem the tide.

“Today I didn’t play great but I think she played a high level of tennis,” said Schiavone. “She had good rally, big energy. She played really long and she was ready for everything. If I played short ball, long ball, spin, she was ready for anything.”

As ebullient as Oudin was after her win, Vandeweghe left the court in tears that spilled over into her post-match press conference.

“I’m very disappointed in myself and the way it turned out,” said the 18-year-old Rancho Santa Fe, California resident. “But I tried my best out there, fought as hard as I could.”

Vandeweghe opened her match by breaking Pennetta and then going up 40-0 on her own serve. But after double-faulting twice in a row, Vandeweghe lost the 20-point second game (which, combined with the first, lasted an excruciating 16 minutes), and never fully regrouped. Her heavy groundstrokes repeatedly sailed long and her forays to the net more often than not resulted in misfired volleys.

Meanwhile, Pennetta showed the versatility that has taken her to No. 23 in the world in singles and No. 2 in doubles. The Italian cruised across the court like a Corvette convertible on a sunny summer day. When Vandeweghe’s final backhand down the line landed just wide of the sideline, Pennetta, who has now won eight consecutive Fed Cup singles matches, squealed, and her teammates joined her in celebration. Her win rendered the doubles match inconsequential, so American Liezel Huber and Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci never got to take the court.

“I’m very proud of CoCo; she competed so well both days,” said Fernandez. “She gave herself chances here and there. She played a world class opponent who came up with good shots at the right time.”

There may be some second-guessing of the decisions made by Captain Fernandez. Should she have played Oudin instead of Vandeweghe the first day against Schiavone, thereby creating the possibility that the U.S. could have taken an early lead in the tie? Was it fair to thrust Vandeweghe, a Fed Cup neophyte whose only prior team experience was a handful of USTA junior team competitions, into such an overwhelming position, rather than groom her with an early-round tie against, say, Uzbekistan?

Should Fernandez have honored the accomplishments this year of Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles champ Vania King, who is ranked 29 spots ahead of Vandeweghe in singles and played doubles in the Fed Cup final last year? (Of course, having two doubles specialists in Huber and King would have proved especially dangerous in light of Mattek-Sands’ inability to compete on the second day.) And what would have happened had the Williams sisters been healthy enough to play, and will they show up when the U.S. faces Belgium on the road in the first round of the 2011 competition next February?

“I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason,” said Fernandez. “I wasn’t planning on playing Melanie first up today. I was hoping that Bethanie was going to be the one to start, then Melanie would have played Pennetta. But things happen.”

At the end of day, however, the Italians earned the right to, as Pennetta said following her win, “dance a little and drink a little.”  Certainly, it will be a fine Italian wine in those shiny silver goblets.