FEDCUP
Roberta Vinci sent Italy into the Fed Cup final for the fifth time in eight years with a 6-2, 6-7, (2/7), 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova in Palermo on Monday.
The match was held over because of rain on Sunday.
Vinci’s triumph gave Italy, winners of the trophy in 2009 and 2010, an unassailable 3-1 lead over the twice defending champions, meaning the doubles was not played.
Russia are waiting in the final, after they stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Slovakia 3-2 in Moscow on Sunday.
Italy went 2-0 up on Saturday, before Petra Kvitova gave the Czechs hope on Sunday by beating Sara Errani in front of a partisan crowd at the Circolo Tennis Palermo.
Vinci, 30, had too much guile for Safarova in the first set, although the Czech found her feet in the second to lead 5-3.
The Italian broke back and served for the match at 6-5, but faltered and was brushed aside in the tiebreak by an inspired Safarova.
In the decider Vinci gave up a 2-0 lead, but then broke serve to lead 5-3 and even though she failed to convert her first two match points, she made no mistake on the third.
“It’s an incredible moment for me,” Vinci said after being doused with water by her joyful teammates.
“I was nervous and a bit tired. I’ve played Fed Cup for a long time and it will be great to play Russia in front of these fans in the final,” she added.
Italy will have home advantage against Russia, the team they were beaten by in the 2007 final.
“Roberta was unbelievable today,” captain Corrado Barazzuti said.
“I was a bit worried in the third set because Roberta was 2-0 up and then it became a very difficult match,” he added.
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
RSS