London, Feb 3: Nuria Llagostera Vives started with an upset of Francesca Schiavone and Anabel Medina Garrigues added a straight-set victory to give Spain a sweep of the opening singles and a 2-0 lead over Italy on Saturday in the first round of the Fed Cup.

Llagostera Vives, ranked 136th on the WTA Tour, defeated No. 23 Schiavone 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, while Medina Garrigues followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Flavia Pennetta, putting the 2006 champion and last year's runner-up on the verge of elimination.

Maria Sharapova won her debut Fed Cup match and gave defending champion Russia a split with Israel in their opening singles while China led France 2-0 of their first-round tie.

Eighteen-year-old Sabine Lisicki, who reached the third round at the Australian Open, stunned Lindsay Davenport with a straight-set victory, but Ashley Harkleroad, also making her Fed Cup debut, rescued the United States against Tatjana Malek to leave it 1-1 against Germany.

In World Group II play, Ukraine and Belgium, Japan and Croatia, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Argentina and Austria all split their opening singles.

In Naples, a leak in the roof at the PalaVesuvio indoor facility caused a delay of almost an hour with Llagostera leading the third set 2-1. By the time play resumed Schiavone had lost her rhythm and dropped four of the last five games.

Schiavone committed five unforced errors while Llagostera Vives limited herself to one.

In Ramat Hasharon, Israel, Sharapova beat Tzipi Obziler 6-0, 6-4 to rally Russia after Shahar Peer beat Dinara Safina 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Sharapova swept the first set and led 5-1 in the second set before Obziler won three straight games with the support of the 6,000-capacity crowd at Ramat Hasharon Tennis Center.

At one stage, the crowd began imitating Sharapova's grunts each time she hit the ball.

"I don't mind it," Sharapova said of the imitation grunting. "It brings out the best in me. I love the atmosphere, the crowd and their craziness. It is what we live for.

"I got really anxious and excited as I was close to finishing my first Fed Cup match."

In Beijing, Li Na defeated Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-1 and Peng Shuai needed three sets to defeat Virginie Razzano 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to put China within one victory of its first appearance in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Li fell behind 2-0 but rallied to win the set. In the second set she took a 4-0 lead and was never challenged.

After splitting the first two sets, Peng broke to lead 5-4 in the third and held to close out Razzano.

"I was a little bit nervous when I was down in the first set," Peng said. "I could hear a lot of fans and my team and coach supporting me ... I am really happy. We're up 2-0 and we have a chance to make the next round."

In the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, Lisicki, who fought through qualifying at the Australian Open and upset the 16th-seeded Safina in Melbourne, beat Davenport 6-1, 7-5. Harkleroad evened things when she dispatched Malek 6-1, 6-3.

It was a shocking performance for Davenport, who was playing in the United States for the first time in her comeback following the birth of her first child - a son named Jagger - in June.

"I'm having a hard time remembering the last time a match went so one-sided against me, a match that, you know, that's been my strength, is to take control of," Davenport said. "But hopefully that will change."

After Lisicki broke serve for a 6-5 lead, she finally won on her third match point when Davenport hit a forehand long.

"I felt pretty confident about my game, so I thought if I played well I had my chances," Lisicki said about playing the former No. 1-ranked player. "I served really well and went for my shots, and it worked."