Saturday's opening singles rubber at the 2009 Fed Cup final will pit American Alexa Glatch against world No. 11 Italian Flavia Pennetta. The United States and host Italy will decide the champion in a best-of-five affair on an outdoor clay court at Rocco Polimeni.
Glatch, ranked 132nd in the world, was forced into playing singles this week when world No. 1 American superstar Serena Williams announced her withdrawal from this week's final last week.
The 20-year-old Glatch stunned Pennetta in 6-1, 6-1 fashion in the opening round at this year's French Open, but has dropped her last six matches overall at the WTA level.
Glatch-Pennetta will be followed by Saturday's second opening singles bout between surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin and world No. 16 Italian Francesca Schiavone. Oudin is ranked 49th in the world.
On Sunday in Reggio Calabria, the reverse singles will pit Oudin against Pennetta and Glatch versus the veteran Schiavone, while the potentially- deciding doubles rubber would have an American tandem of Liezel Huber and Vania King facing an Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
The underdog Americans are captained by Mary Joe Fernandez, while the Italian contingent is headed up by Corrado Barazzutti.
The U.S. is a perfect 9-0 all-time versus Italy.
The Americans own a record 17 Fed Cup titles, but haven't captured the trophy since 2000. The Italians, meanwhile, are playing in their third final in four years and seeking their second title, with their first-ever championship coming in 2006.
Team USA is appearing in its first Fed Cup final since 2003.
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