Russia will have to win all three of Sunday's rubbers if they are to defend their Fed Cup title after falling behind 2-0 to Italy in the World Group semi-finals.
Italians on top after opening day
Russia will have to win all three of Sunday's rubbers if they are to defend their Fed Cup title after falling behind 2-0 to Italy in the World Group semi-finals.
Flavia Pennetta swept past an out-of-sorts Anna Chakvetadze 6-4 6-0 in windy conditions at Castellaneta Marina before Francesca Schiavone fought back to stun Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6 6-2 6-3.
Italy, the only nation apart from Russia to have lifted the Cup in the last five years thanks to their 2006 triumph, need to win just one of Sunday's three matches to reach the final.
After taking a scrappy first set, Pennetta started to play with assurance on the clay in the second and found little resistance from 22nd-ranked Chakvetadze, who was handed a singles berth after Vera Zvonareva pulled out injured.
The Russians, without new world number one Dinara Safina and third-ranked Elena Dementieva, looked on course to level the tie when Kuznetsova dominated the first set of her match at the southern Italian coastal resort.
But the world number nine appeared to get ahead of herself, allowing Shiavone to claw her way back into the match.
The Russian's error count piled up and the combative Schiavone was rewarded for never giving up, even after losing her serve at the start of the deciding set.
Glatch stuns Czechs
The United States leveled their tie with Czech Republic after the opening day's play in the second semi-final in Brno.
Petra Kvitova predictably nudged the Czechs ahead with a 6-3 7-6 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands but rookie Alexa Glatch unexpectedly levelled the contest by whipping Iveta Benesova 6-1 6-2.
Mattek-Sands, who at 39th was the highest ranked US player in the team, had her chance to extend the match into a decider but was broken by the 19-year-old Czech and eventually surrendered in the tiebreak.
But Glatch, ranked 114th, hit back by defeating Benesova, who is in the top 30, with surprising ease on the hard court in under an hour to keep things wide open.
"I thought I played pretty well and I'm just happy I could get a win for our team. I think we needed this one," said Glatch.
"I played solid all around. I think I served very well then I used my slice pretty effectively. Those two things were key in the match."
