Sampdoria 3-1 Udinese

Sampdoria made it two wins from two Serie A matches thanks largely to an inspirational performance by Luca Castellazzi.

Castellazzi was in imperious form as he frustrated the visitors, who were ultimately undone by goals from Giampaolo Pazzini, Daniele Mannini and talisman Antonio Cassano.

Antonio Di Natale had pulled a goal back for the Udine outfit.

While the Genoa outfit began their Serie A campaign with a hard-fought win at Catania last week, Di Natale's brace earned Udinese a point against Parma in their opening fixture.

Marco Rossi gifted Antonio Floro Flores an eighth-minute chance when he fluffed a clearance only for the Bianconeri forward to shoot over the bar from inside the box.

Sampdoria went ahead three minutes later when Aleksandar Lukovic's weak back header failed to reach goalkeeper Samir Handanovic and striker Pazzini nipped in to tuck it past the baffled stopper.

Mannini tried his luck from distance in the 21st minute only to watch his speculative effort fly way over.

In the 27th minute Udinese had a gilt-edged chance to level when Floro Flores, in acres of space, met Paolo Sammarco's ball only for Samp goalkeeper Castellazzi to pull off an improbable save.

Another chance passed them by with 10 minutes of the half to go. Simone Pepe reacted quickest to his side's corner kick after a scramble but saw Castellazzi pull off an impressive double save.

Udinese were clearly in the ascendancy. In the 39th minute Gaetano D'Agostino's free-kick was headed powerfully by Felipe but Castellazzi produced yet another good reflex save to deny the defender.

Then, against the run of play, Samp made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time.

Luciano Zauri crossed the ball in from the right and when Antonio Cassano cleverly back-heeled to Mannini, the winger converted from close range leaving Handanovic with little chance.

A slow opening to the second half came alive in the 53rd minute when Mannini fired goalwards from the right to force a save from Handanovic. Lukovic failed to clear and when Pazzini chipped it back in, the goalkeeper superbly saved from Mannini's follow-up header.

Udinese pulled a goal back moments later in the 56th minute. Di Natale tapped the ball home after nipping in to beat Castellazzi to the ball.

Chilean substitute Alexis Sanchez provided some added impetus to the visitors' attempts at a fightback and he fed Marius Stankevicius, whose shot from the right went narrowly wide.

Samp replacement Marco Padalino tried his luck from 25 yards but Felipe did well to partially block the effort, allowing Handanovic to collect comfortably.

Udinese continued to press forward valiantly with Di Natale and Sanchez particularly dropping deep attempting to get their side going.

Any hopes of a comeback were ended in the 83rd minute, however, when Cassano - who has been strongly linked with a move away from Genoa before the transfer window with Inter Milan said to be pursuing him - collected the ball on the left before driving infield, swerving two defenders and slotting past Handanovic.