Double duty for Italy's Errani in Fed Cup

BIELLA, Italy, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Sara Errani has been given both singles and doubles duty for Italy in a Fed Cup quarterfinal series against Ukraine this weekend.

Italy won the Fed Cup championship in both 2009 and 2010 but lost in the semifinals to Russia last year. Errani, who entered that series 4-0 in Fed Cup singles, dropped both her matches against the Russians.

But Errani was still given the prime spot for the quarterfinals, which begin Saturday on a clay court in Biella, Italy.

Errani opens the best-of-five series against Kateryna Bondarenko -- at No. 89 the highest ranked player nominated by the Ukrainians for the series. The second singles match has world No. 11 Francesca Schiavone playing Lesia Tsurenko.

The opponents are reversed for Sunday, with Schiavone playing Bondarenko and Errani then meeting Tsurenko.

Errani is to team with Roberta Vinci in the doubles match Sunday. They were the runner-up in women's doubles at the Australian Open. Ukraine counters with Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk.

The winner of the Ukraine-Italy series would take on either the Czech Republic or Germany in the Fed Cup semifinals April 22-23.