Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5 to win his fifth straight Barcelona Open title on Sunday. Top-ranked Nadal exploited Ferrer's inconsistent service game to win the first set while also overcoming his own erratic play in the second set to win the Godo trophy at his fellow Spaniard's expense for the second straight year. Nadal, who was coming off a record fifth straight Monte Carlos Masters title, improved to 24-1 in clay court finals to pick up his fourth title of the season. The four-time defending French Open champion goes into the Rome Masters on a 25-match unbeaten run with only three defeats in his last 133 matches on the red surface. Nadal takes home $380,000 in prize money after winning for the 35th time in 44 finals. Italy to meet US in final Defending champion Russia relinquished its two-year Fed Cup stranglehold on Sunday when Italy triumphed in their semifinal to book a title match-up with 17-time winner United States. Italy, the champions in 2006, will host the final after Francesca Schiavone's battling 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-2 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth rubber of the tie on the clay courts of Castellaneta Marina. The Italian number two, and world 44, scored her second three-set win of the weekend to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 winning lead over the Russians who have won four of the last five Fed Cup titles. Earlier, world number nine Svetlana Kuznetsova prevented a potential whitewash by defeating Flavia Pennetta 6-0, 6-3 in 73 minutes. However, 18-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, who replaced Anna Chakvetadze in the day's second singles, was unable to make a winning debut. Italy had lost to Russia in the 2007 final. In Brno, the world's top doubles player Liezel Huber teamed up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to give the United States a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic in a thrilling deciding rubber. The Czech pair of Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke, aiming to put their country into their first Fed Cup final in 11 years, had led 6-2, 5-2 before the Americans battled back to take the tie-break. They then ran away with the final set to record a famous 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory to secure a first final spot since 2003. After the teams were level at 1-1 overnight, Lucie Safarova defeated Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1 to give the Czechs a 2-1 lead before teenager Alex Glatch, making her debut and ranked 144 in the world, eased past Petra Kvitova 6-1, 6-2. In the play-offs, Serbia reached the World Group for the first time when it beat five-time champion Spain. Leading 2-0 overnight in Lleida, world number four Jelena Jankovic shook off a fever to beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to give Serbia an unassailable 3-0 lead. “This is something we have wanted for a long time,” said Jankovic. “It's a special occasion, you really have to play with your heart.” Serbia had led 2-0 overnight after Jankovic beat Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 6-4 and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic had seen off Medina Garrigues 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Also making sure of World Group places were Germany who beat China 3-2 and Ukraine who opened up an unassailable 3-0 lead over Argentina. The other play-off saw Slovakia open up a 2-1 lead over France in Limoges.
