Sports

TENNIS

ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy — Italy won its second Fed Cup title in four years on Sunday, completing a shutout of a U.S. team playing without Venus and Serena Williams.

Flavia Pennetta beat U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin 7-5, 6-2 to give the experienced Italians an insurmountable 3-0 lead over a young United States team in the best-of-five series on an outdoor clay court at the Rocco Polimeni club.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci finished the 4-0 victory on Sunday by beating Liezel Huber and Vania King 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 in doubles. The fourth singles match was scrapped after Italy clinched the title.

The Williams sisters opted not to play after meeting in the season-ending tour championships final last weekend.

Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone also scored straight-set singles victories Saturday.

Italy beat France in the opening round and ousted defending champion Russia in the semifinals, but still faced questions about the value of its victory against a U.S. team without the Williams sisters.

“We’re the world champions, it’s simple,” Pennetta said. “We’ve played against some great teams this year.”

The U.S. has won a record 17 Fed Cups, but its last title came in 2000. Italy won its first Fed Cup title in 2006 over Belgium and Justine Henin, and lost the 2007 final to Russia.

The Italians celebrated their victory by launching captain Corrado Barazzutti up and down into the air, then ran around the court dousing each other with water bottles.