Bad Gastein, Austria (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone outlasted last week's Palermo champion Agnes Szavay to reach the semifinals at the inaugural $175,000 Gastein Ladies tennis event.
Schiavone snuck past the sixth-seeded Szavay 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4 on Day 5 at this clay-court tournament. The surprising Szavay was riding a seven-match winning streak.
Up next for Schiavone will be fourth-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who got past Czech Renata Voracova 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. Saturday's other semi will pit seventh-seeded Italian Karin Knapp against Austrian crowd favorite Yvonne Meusburger, as Knapp overcame Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, while Meusburger upended eighth-seeded Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-1, 6-4 in Friday's quarterfinals.
BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) -- Top-seeded Francesca Schiavone beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland 6-0, 6-4 Wednesday in the first round of the Gastein Ladies.
The 31st-ranked Italian easily won the first set in about 20 minutes, but had to fight back from 2-0 down in the second. Third-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy was upset by Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.
Groenefeld double-faulted 13 times, but No. 52 Vinci, who won her first WTA title in February, converted only two of eight break points.
Sixth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary routed Tina Schiechtl of Austria, 6-0, 6-1.
Also, eighth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain advanced after defeatomg Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-4, 7-5.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain defeated Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia 6-4, 6-0, and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia won 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 against Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
Maria Emilia Salerni of Argentina beat Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (4), while Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic defeated wildcard Melanie Klaffner of Austria, 6-4, 6-3.
Also through to the second round: Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who beat Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1; and qualifier Laura Pous Tio of Spain, who defeated Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2.
Castellaneta Marina, Italy (Sports Network) - Francesca Schiavone stunned former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in straight sets Saturday to help Italy draw even with France after the first day of their Fed Cup semifinal matchup at Nova Yardina.
Schiavone, the 31st-ranked player in the world, followed a strong first set and an early break in the second to escape with the 7-5, 6-3 win. The Italian broke Mauresmo, the sixth ranked player, to go ahead 1-0 in the second and held serve the rest of the way on the red clay.
Earlier in the day, France's Tatiana Golovin defeated Italy's Tathiana Garbin, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
After Garbin won the final five games of the second to force the decisive set, the duo exchanged a pair of breaks early in the third. Then, on serve at 3-2, Golovin broke Garbin to take control on her way to winning the final four games of the set for the win.
For the match, Golovin converted 7-of-12 break points.
Sunday's reverse singles currently call for Garbin to take on Mauresmo and Schiavone to tangle with Golovin, while Sunday's potentially-deciding doubles rubber will pit an Italian tandem of Mara Santangelo and Roberta Vinci against a French duo of Severine Bremond and Nathalie Dechy.
France is captained by Georges Goven, while the hosts are skippered by Corrado Barazzutti.
The Italians corralled their first-ever Fed Cup championship last year by topping Belgium 3-2 in the final in Charleroi.
France is a two-time champion in this team event, capturing the chalice in 1997 and 2003. The French also posted back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2005.
The French are a commanding 6-1 all-time against the Italians, dating back to 1970, but Italy's lone victory in the series came in last year's opening round (4-1) in France.
Italy and France are two of only four nations to have competed in every Fed Cup.
The Italy-France winner will meet the United States-Russia victor in the World Group final in mid-September.
Bad Gastein, Austria (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone outlasted last week's Palermo champion Agnes Szavay to reach the semifinals at the inaugural $175,000 Gastein Ladies tennis event.
