CAGLIARI, Italy (AP) Roberta Vinci overcame a surprisingly tough challenge by rallying from 5-2 down in the second set against unheralded Alexandra Panova to win 5-7, 7-5, 8-6 Saturday and give Italy a 1-0 lead against Russia in the Fed Cup final.
Vinci had to save four match points in total as Panova was on the verge of pulling off an upset on her Fed Cup debut, against a player ranked more than 100 places above the Russian.
However, the 13th-ranked Vinci managed to turn the match around to win in 3 hours, 13 minutes.
Russia has won the tournament four times in the past 10 years but has traveled to Italy without any of its top players, with some of them injured and some instead playing in the Tournament of Champions.
That makes Italy the overwhelming favorite to claim a fourth Fed Cup title and it looked as if things were going according to plan when Vinci won the opening two games.