Francesca Schiavone beat inexperienced Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-3 Saturday to give Italy a 1-0 lead over Belgium in the Fed Cup final.

French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne played 20th-ranked Flavia Pennetta in the second match of this best-of-five series at the Spiroudome. Reverse singles and doubles are Sunday.

Belgium had been a big favourite to win the top team competition in women's tennis until Kim Clijsters injured her wrist last month and withdrew. That put considerable pressure on 98th-ranked Flipkens, and it wasn't much of a match.

``I have to look at the positive things,'' Flipkens said. ``Francesca played unbelievable. She didn't make any mistakes.''

Schiavone, ranked 14th and Italy's best player, beat top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France in the Fed Cup quarter-finals.

This time, she overwhelmed Flipkens from the start. She took the opening serve and never let up, quieting the home crowd with her shot-making in a 23-minute first set. The second set was almost as one-sided with Schiavone in a groove and Flipkens hurt by unforced errors and double-faults.

``I did my job,'' Schiavone said.

Italy leads Belgium 6-0 in Fed Cup play. Belgium has one title (2001) while Italy has never won the cup.

The fans were counting on a better showing from Henin-Hardenne, who won the French Open and was runner-up at Wimbledon and the Australian and U.S. Opens.

Henin-Hardenne was playing in far from ideal circumstances. She was still smarting from last Sunday's loss to Russia's Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open final and complained of fatigue and a left eye infection that blurred her vision.

Pennetta was playing her first match in almost a month. She was in doubt until Friday because of an inflamed wrist incurred at last month's Rogers Cup in Montreal. She said she had fully recovered and was set to play both singles matches.