By Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy - Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone each had straight-set wins Saturday to give Italy a 2-0 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup final.

Pennetta beat Alexa Glatch 6-3, 6-1 and Schiavone rallied after a two-hour rain delay to dispatch U.S. Open quarter-finalist Melanie Oudin 7-6 (2), 6-2 on the outdoor red clay court at the Rocco Polimeni club.

Reverse singles and doubles were scheduled for Sunday in the best-of-five series.

The U.S. has won all nine of its previous meetings with Italy, but the Americans are without both Serena and Venus Williams, who opted not to play after meeting in the season-ending tour championships final last weekend.

Italy is playing its third final in four years, having upset Justine Henin and Belgium to take the 2006 title. With the 11th-ranked Pennetta and the 16th-ranked Schiavone leading the way, the Italians beat France in the opening round and ousted defending champion Russia in the semifinals.

Pennetta used her consistent baseline game to wear down the 132nd-ranked Glatch, breaking early in the first set to set the tone, then cruising in the second.

Glatch routed Pennetta 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of this year's French Open, but she was never in control this time on a cool and overcast day in southern Italy.

"She definitely played better than last time," Glatch said. "The conditions were also different. It was much quicker and hot that day and very dry, and I served extremely well. I was more aggressive in that match, and I probably should have tried to be in this match."

Pennetta finished with 33 winners to Glatch's 14 and broke the 20-year-old American five times. Glatch struggled with her mobility, watching several winners whiz by her within reach.

"She has a pretty varied game," Pennetta said. "She can slice the ball, hit it hard, topspin. You need to move her around because once she starts moving she has trouble."

The six-foot Glatch likes to rely on her serve, but she won only won 43 per cent of the points on her first serve.

"My serve kind of let me down," she said. "I didn't win a lot of free points off my serve, so it made it very difficult to hold."

One of the few things Pennetta struggled with were low balls, with the heavy clay hardly providing any bounce.

"There was a bit too much clay on the court but that's what we asked for," Pennetta said.

The 49th-ranked Oudin jumped out to a 4-2 lead with an early break in the first set before a nearly two-hour rain delay. Schiavone broke back in the first game when play resumed, using a drop-shot winner on her first break point.

With the crowd chanting "Fran-CES-ca, Fran-CES-ca" between points, Oudin maintained her concentration and saved three break points to take a 5-4 lead. She flattened out her forehand for a couple of winners up the line and used an effective drop shot of her own on occasion, yelling "C'mon" whenever she won a big point.

In the tiebreaker, Schiavone's bigger serve and more powerful ground strokes made the difference, and the Italian landed an inside-out backhand return winner on the line on her first set point.

Oudin broke in the opening game of the second set but Schiavone broke right back and then jumped out to a 5-1 lead against the teenager from Marietta, Ga. Schiavone then dropped her serve when she served for the match, but broke in the next game to close it out when Oudin landed a forehand in the net.

Oudin won only 26 per cent of the points on her second serve and committed 49 unforced errors to Schiavone's 31.