KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)—Flavia Pennetta beat Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-3 to level defending champion Italy’s Fed Cup quarterfinal against Ukraine at 1-1 after the opening singles.
Earlier Alona Bondarenko beat Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4 to give World Group new comers Ukraine a 1-0 lead.
Pennetta took a quick 3-0 lead before Bondarenko fought back to level at 5-5, but the Italian secured the decisive break in the next game.
Pennetta then took another 3-0 lead in the second and held off her opponent to clinch the match in 1 hour, 39 minutes.
In the first match Schiavone struggled with her serve and was broken four times in the first set, when she won just four of 11 points on her first serve.
The Italian then took a 3-1 lead in the second, but Bondarenko responded by winning five of the six next games to clinch the match.