Count on Justine Henin-Hardenne to draw a weakened Belgium level with Italy in the Fed Cup final.
Trying to win a second major title this year after playing all four Grand Slam finals, the French Open champion edged Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to keep Belgium and Italy tied 1-1 on the opening day.
Earlier, Francesca Schiavone beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-3 to give Italy the early lead.
Reverse singles and doubles are on Sunday when second-ranked Henin-Hardenne opens against number 14 Schiavone.
”It will be tough. We’ve known this since Kim was forced to pull out,” said Henin-Hardenne, referring to the fourth-ranked Kim Clijsters who pulled out last month with an injured wrist.
The 98th-ranked Flipkens’ performance to lose in 58 minutes showed just much Clijsters was missed.
Henin-Hardenne won the last five games of her match — but it was far from easy. The five-time Grand Slam was just two points away from losing the second set.
”It was in trouble in the second set,” she said of the result.
The 20th-ranked Pennetta said that ”on the important points, she always played great.”
After the overwhelming domination of Schiavone in the opener, Pennetta built on that momentum by winning the first three games against Henin-Hardenne.
However, Henin-Hardenne regained the initiative with two service breaks to win five games in a row. She took the set in 45 minutes.
At that point, she thought she had weathered the storm.
But Pennetta fought for every point in the second set and led 5-2 to need only two points to draw level.
”I didn’t expect it,” said Henin-Hardenne, who committed numerous unforced errors, particularly at the baseline.
Pennetta then allowed Henin-Hardenne back in and, serving for the set, she committed two double faults and an easy volley error.
It was all the French Open champion needed. She wrapped up the match on the indoor hard court with some of her best points to delight the home crowd of 6 000 at the Spiroudome.
”The crowd gave me a lot of support when I was down,” Henin-Hardenne said.
Henin-Hardenne was playing in far from ideal circumstances.
Still smarting from a loss to Maria Sharapova in the US Open final last Sunday, she complained of fatigue and a left eye infection that had blurred her vision.
She played on antibiotics to treat the eye irritation, but said it was not a factor.
Pennetta was playing her first match in almost a month. She was in doubt until Friday because of an inflamed wrist injury from the Canadian Open, but claims to be fully recovered and is set to play Sunday’s singles despite heavy bandaging.
Her job will look a lot easier against underperforming Flipkens.
”I have to look at the positive things,” Flipkens said after her drubbing by Schiavone. ”Francesca played unbelievably. She didn’t make any mistakes.”
Schiavone overwhelmed the inexperienced Flipkens from the start, taking the opening serve and never letting up in the first set.
Within a quarter of an hour, Schiavone had quieted the home crowd with a stunning all-around display of shot-making. She was broken once before clinching the first set in 23 minutes with a passing shot.
The second set was almost as one-sided with Schiavone perfecting her groove, while Flipkens kept making unforced errors and serving double-faults.
”I did my job,” Schiavone said.
Overall, Italy leads Belgium 6-0 in Fed Cup play. Belgium has one title from 2001, while Italy has never won the cup. – Sapa-AP