London: The United States, Italy, Czech Republic and Russia reached the Fed Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

Teenager Melanie Oudin beat Julie Coin to give the Americans an unassailable lead in France on the way to a 4-1 victory, while Francesca Schiavone rallied from a set down to beat Kateryna Bondarenko and help Italy to a resounding 4-1 win against Ukraine.

The Czech Republic reached a second consecutive Fed Cup semi-final by beating Germany in the decisive doubles match.

It also went down to the doubles as four-time champions Russia defeated Serbia 3-2 as Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova beat Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4 in the decisive rubber.

Earlier Sunday in the reverse singles, Kleybanova beat Ivanovic 6-2, 6-3 while Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to level the tie.

Both teams were missing their best players. Serena and Venus Williams skipped the event, while France played without Marion Bartoli, Aravane Rezai and Virginie Razzano.

Ivanovic, the former No. 1 who has dropped to 23rd in the WTA rankings after a string of poor results since winning the French Open in 2008, struggled on her serve against the 31st-ranked Kleybanova and committed 51 unforced errors.

“I tried to play more aggressively, but I'm struggling psychologically,” a teary-eyed Ivanovic said.

Italy and Ukraine started Sunday at 1-1 in Kharkiv before Flavia Pennetta beat Alona Bondarenko 7-5, 7-6 (3) to put Italy ahead. Both players struggled with their serve in that match, which featured nine breaks, but Pennetta proved stronger at the end of each set.

Bondarenko held a 4-2 lead in the first set and had a break point for 5-3 before Pennetta rallied, and the Italian then dominated the second-set tiebreaker to clinch the win.

Schiavone then struggled in the first set and was broken twice before racing out to a 5-0 lead in both the second and third. Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani beat Mariya Koryttseva and Viktoria Kutuzova 6-1, 6-3 to complete the win.

Italy will play the Czech Republic after Lucie Hradecka teamed up with veteran doubles specialist Kveta Peschke to defeat Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-3 on indoor hardcourt at the Brno Exhibition Center.

Italy beat the Czechs 3-2 in their last Fed Cup encounter in 2005.

“Hopefully we’ll beat Italy this time,” Peschke said. “It will be revenge.”

The Czech pair dominated the first set before the Germans got briefly back in the match with a 2-0 lead in the second. The Czechs finally converted the sixth break point in the sixth game and went on to secure a comfortable victory.

Earlier Sunday, Groenefeld rallied to overcome Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to draw Germany even at 2-2 after Hradecka beat Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the first reverse singles to give the Czechs a 2-1 lead in the series.

Kvitova had rallied from 2-0 down in the first set but struggled the rest of the way and lost in a little over two hours.

In World Group II, Australia beat Spain 3-2 in Adelaide, Belgium beat Poland 3-2, Estonia beat Argentina 4-1 and Slovakia beat China 3-2.