Tennis Capsules: Oudin, Mattek-Sands give U.S. 2-0 lead in Fed Cup

LIEVIN, France — Melanie Oudin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the opening singles to give the United States a 2-0 lead against France in the quarterfinals of the Fed Cup.

Oudin defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4 after Mattek-Sands outlasted Alize Cornet 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first match.

"Both players on my team just really kept it together mentally and that was the difference," said U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

Both teams were without their best players. Top-ranked Serena Williams and No. 5 Venus Williams skipped the event while France played without Marion Bartoli, Aravane Rezai and Virginie Razzano.

In other quarterfinal Fed Cup matches, defending champion Italy and Ukraine were tied at 1-1, along Russia and Serbia (1-1) and Germany and Czech Republic (1-1).

The 140th-ranked Mattek-Sands rallied from 5-2 down in the first set and clinched the tiebreaker after an unforced error from Cornet. She converted her third match point when Cornet netted an approach shot.

"Alize is a great player and I knew I was going to have to grind the match out," Mattek-Sands said. "I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I think that coming with that mindset really helped me. ... It was very tight, it could have gone either way."

In the second match, Oudin broke Parmentier in the fifth game and held serve to take the first set on a forehand error by Parmentier.

In the second set, Parmentier had five break points for a 4-2 lead but failed to convert any of them. Oudin didn’t miss her chance at 4-4 and broke Parmentier to get the opportunity to serve for the match.

Oudin sent a backhand into the net but won when Parmentier’s backhand sailed long.

"I played the important points well," Oudin said. "It was really nice to be able to go out there, knowing that we’re already up 1-0."

Reverse singles and the final doubles match are scheduled for Sunday in the best-of-five series. The U.S. has a 10-1 record against France, its only loss coming in their last meeting in 2003.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine, Alona Bondarenko defeated Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4 before Flavia Pennetta beat Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-3.

In Brno, Czech Republic, Anna-Lena Groenefeld stopped Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-2 and Petra Kvitova evened it by defeating Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 6-4.

In Belgrade, Jelena Jankovic rallied from a set down and 1-4 in the second to beat Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. In the opener, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4.

The former top-ranked Ivanovic finished with 50 unforced errors and six double-faults.

"I had my chances in the second set, but psychology played a big part in the final outcome," Ivanovic said.

Russia, which has won four of the last six Fed Cup titles, is without top players Dinara Safina, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva. Serbia is playing for the first time in the World Group.

The Russia-Serbia winner will take on the U.S-France winner in the semifinals in April.

Other Events

Bellucci beats Gonzalez to reach finals

SANTIAGO, Chile — Two-time defending champ Fernando Gonzalez was knocked out of his hometown tournament by Thomaz Bellucci on Saturday night.

Third-seeded Bellucci won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the final of the Movistar Open, where he’ll face against Juan Monaco, who defeated upstart Brazilian qualifier Joao Souza 6-1, 6-4.

Monaco advanced to the Movistar championship in 2008, only to withdraw against Gonzalez because he sprained an ankle in the doubles final the day before.

Gonzalez had won 11 straight matches at the Movistar since his last defeat in the 2007 quarterfinals.

Monaco has made it to his 10th career ATP final, all on clay. Since Monaco’s third and last title at Kitzbuehel, Austria in July 2007, he’s been runner-up five times, including three last year.

Bellucci, a 22-year-old left-hander, will be playing in only his second ATP final. He won earlier this year on clay in Gstaad, Switzerland.

"Monaco will be tough, but I feel very good," Bellucci said.

Lopez, Robert reach final in Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG — Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Stephane Robert of France advanced to the final of the SA Open on Saturday after eliminating the two highest-seeded players.

Lopez upset top-seeded Gael Monfils of France 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1), while Robert ousted second-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

Monfils struggled in the second set after hurting his knee and was broken twice, winning just eight points on his serve.

"Gael outclassed me in the first set, and after he hurt his knee I was nervous because I wasn’t sure to expect," Lopez said. "But I hung in well and played some good serve and volley tennis to take the second set. In the decider, he looked to be back to 100 percent on his feet and it was a close match until the tiebreaker where I just seemed to do everything right."

The 29-year-old Robert reached the first ATP Tour final of his career. He changed his style of play after returning to the game six months ago following a long bout of hepatitis, which sidelined him for 15 months.

"I had been all my life playing what I call ‘casino tennis,’ hitting crazy shots, gambling with big shots and closing my eyes just hoping the ball would go in," the 100th-ranked Robert said. "Last August, when I came back to tennis after the illness, I had a long chat with my coach, Ronan Lafaix, who persuaded me to do things differently.

"He urged me to start focusing on one thing at a time, to concentrate harder than ever before and develop a precision game."

Cilic, Berrer reach final of Zagreb Indoors

ZAGREB, Croatia — Defending champion Marin Cilic of Croatia beat third-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Zagreb Indoors final.

He will play Michael Berrer, who beat fellow German Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (6), 7-5 to reach his first ATP Tour final.

The top-seeded Cilic improved to 14-1 in 2010. He is going for his second title this year and the fifth of his career.

Cilic won in Chennai, India in January and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open last week to break into the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time.

Cilic’s serve was broken for the first time this week when Melzer made some great returns in the seventh game of the first set. But Cilic broke back to level at 4-4 and saved two break points in the next game.

Melzer went up 2-0 in the tiebreaker, but Cilic won six of the next seven points and went on to take the set.

Cilic started the second set by breaking Melzer in the opening game and did not face a break until the end of the match.

Fed Cup: Spain, Australia tied at 1

ADELAIDE, Australia — Anabel Medina-Garrigues has beaten Australia’s Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-3 to even Spain’s Fed Cup World Group II match at 1-1.

Earlier Saturday, Sam Stosur gave Australia a 1-0 lead with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez.

The reverse singles will be played Sunday on hard courts at the Memorial Drive tennis center, with Stosur playing Medina-Garrigues and Dellacqua taking on Martinez-Sanchez.

Alicia Molik and Rennae Stubbs will play doubles against Spain’s Nuria Llagostera-Vives and Carla Suarez-Navarro.

The winner advances to a playoff against one of the losers from World Group I to decide a berth in the top tier for 2011.