The first round of the Fed Cup World Group takes place on February 6th and 7th, with Italy seeking to defend the title they won in 2009 and Serbia looking to notch their first victory in the top tier of the competition.
The eight teams will be playing four head-to-head ties, with the winners to move through to the semi-finals in April. Here we look at the match ups, and which team might win them.
Italy v Ukraine
Italy has named an unchanged side from the one who defeated the USA in the final of the 2009 Fed Cup to take on a Ukraine squad that is making its debut in the Fed Cup World Group.
The Italians secured the 2009 Fed Cup title with wins over France and Russia to reach the final of the competition, and with the title on the line. Flavia Pennetta and teammate Roberta Vinci then turned down the chance to play in the Tournament of Champions, and for Pennetta the chance to potentially break back into the top 10, in favour of representing her country against the USA in the final.
The top Italians, unlike the top Americans, answer the call of national duty almost without fail. And that’s got to be a large part of the reason they enter 2010 as defending champions, and why they should go into this tie as favourites.
Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani and Vinci will face a Ukraine team that includes sisters Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko who, with a 4-0 Fed Cup winning record in doubles, are Ukraine’s most successful Fed Cup doubles team.
Alona, the Ukraine’s No. 1 player, has started 2010 well too, winning the title in Hobart and defeating eighth seed Jelena Jankovic in the third round of the Australian Open, before falling to Jie Zheng in the round of 16.
However, world No. 12 Pennetta should be able to secure her singles rubbers, and if Schiavone can reproduce the form that saw her defeat 10th seed Agneiszka Radwanska at the Australian Open, Italy should find themselves one step closer to a title defence.
Serbia v Russia
It’s actually a pity Russia and Serbia have been drawn to meet in the first round of the 2010 Fed Cup, because when their strongest teams are available they are both of a higher calibre than either the Czech Republic or Germany, and one of those two will progress to the next round.
Though 2010 will be Serbia’s first appearance in the Fed Cup World Group, read that as a natural progression for a team with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic at its disposal. The Serbs have won their past six Fed Cup ties to move into the World Group, and while neither 2008 French Open champion Ivanovic or former world No. 1 Jankovic lived up to their potential in 2009, they still make for a formidable team nucleus by Fed Cup standards.
The big question for Serbia heading into this tie will be Jankovic’s fitness. On February 1st, Jankovic wrote on her website that “everything is still in doubt. No, I haven't come to Belgrade yet, and I'm still in Florida, where I'm fighting with back injury received in Melbourne.”
Stating that she’d played for Serbia with injuries before, the world No. 8 went on to say “Now I'm in dilemma whether to do the same, to compete with an injury against the rival, because it may cost me in the coming months and competitions. The pain and desire are fighting inside of me, since I want to wear Serbian jersey once again.”
But while Jankovic will be doing everything in her power to play, Russia’s top players haven’t shown the same commitment to the cause.
Svetlana Kuznetsova now heads the Russian line-up, though she wasn’t named in the original squad, which could only be viewed as the B-team with Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina, Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva all initially deciding to opt out of the fixture. Luckily for Russia, Kuznetsova has now put her hand up and heads a squad that also includes Elisa Kleybanova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Vera Dushevina.
Despite all the names that are missing from the Russian squad, you’d still suspect Serbia would need both Jankovic and Ivanovic in its team and firing to be a chance of taking victory in front of what could be a 20,000 strong home crowd for the Serbs.
France v USA
Fresh from the 2009 final, the USA take on what will be a new-look France in the first round of the 2010 Fed Cup.
Once again USA captain Mary Joe Fernandez is without Serena or Venus Williams at her disposal, with Serena telling reporters at the Australian Open that, “I really want to [play in the Fed Cup], but I have, since I do own a football team, we have some owner's stuff that we have to do for Super Bowl. Venus and I have to be there, so...”
But in her more regular and younger charges USA Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez has the opportunity to build the nucleus of a team that can potentially take the USA one step further than runner-up in years to come. For now, that means that teenager Melanie Oudin will likely shoulder the responsibility in two singles rubbers, as she did in the final against Italy last year. Also in the squad are Shenay Perry, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber.
France made an exit from the Fed Cup in the first round in 2009 with a 0-5 scoreline against Italy, but won through to the World Group for 2010 via the Play-offs.
Amelie Mauresmo had long been a servant to her country in the Fed Cup, including as a member of the 2003 Fed cup champion team, and with a 30-9 record holds France’s record for the most singles wins in Fed cup competition. But her retirement at the end of 2009 leaves a hole in the side. And it’s one that won’t be filled by France’s current three best players – Marion Bartoli, Aravene Rezai and Virginie Razzano – none of whom are in the squad to face the USA.
Instead, France will be represented by world No. 65 Alize Cornet, 76th ranked Julie Coin and two players outside the top 100 in Pauline Parmentier and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.
It’s tough to pick a winner from those squads. Perhaps France’s big advantage over the US in this one though is the fact they are playing hosts and they’ve rolled out the red clay as a welcome mat.
Czech Republic v Germany
The Czech Republic were semi-finalists in the 2009 Fed Cup, which admittedly means winning only their first-round tie but that’s better than half the World Group managed; while Germany continues its rollercoaster of promotion and relegation with a return to the World Group for 2010.
Lucie Safarova (2-0) and teenager Petra Kvitova (3-1) were the best performers of the Czechs in the 2009 Fed Cup, and they’re both in the squad to face Germany in this tie.
The Germans though have named a squad that does not include world No. 25 Sabine Lisicki and will be relying on world No. 49 Andrea Petkovic to lead the way.
Without Lisicki the teams look to be pretty evenly matched – maybe the home court advantage will work in the Czech’s favour and help them through to the next round.
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