Venus Williams features in the doubles event at the Fed Cup 2012 – Tennis News
A former world number one, Venus Williams will play the doubles match while Christina McHale will display her skills in the singles event at the Fed Cup 2012 this week. The Americans are hosting this Fed Cup tie against the Belarus at the DCU Centre in Worcester,
Massachusetts.
Currently ranked 12th in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) rankings, Serena Williams leads the United States in their Fed Cup clash against Belarus. The later team is led by the new the world number one, Victoria Azarenka. Both countries are
facing each other for the first time.
The American team includes seven-time Grand Slam champion, Venus Williams, who has accomplished a lot in her career. However, the US captain Mary Joe Fernandez chose McHale as her number two singles player after seeing her impressive run of form at the Australian
Open last month.
"Christina is very match-fit," Fernandez praised the American. "She had a great Australian Open and is very prepared and ready to go. Venus has had a great week of practice as well, but I think Christina has been playing a lot more."
The 19-year-old McHale won her maiden title at the Rome-Tiro A Volo ITF (International Tennis Federation) event in May last year (defeated seventh seed Ekaterina Ivanova in the title-round). She also made quarter-final berths at the Pelham ITF, Charleston
WTA and New Haven WTA Premier events. In addition to this, the teenager reached the third round at the Indian Wells, Carlsbad and Cincinnati WTA Premier events.
This season, McHale reached the pre-quarters at the ASB Classic in the first week of January. Later, she stunned 24th seed Lucie Safarova in the opening round of the Australian Open, first of the four Grand Slam event.
Venus Williams on the other hand hasn’t hit the balls since pulling out from the US Open. The 31-year-old withdrew from the event after finding out that she has the auto-immune disorder Sjogren Syndrome.
McHale will square off against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus who recently became the new world number one. Azarenka crippled Russian ace Maria Sharapova with a bagel in the title-round at the Australian Open to earn this rank.
Williams on the other hand will team up with her compatriot, Liezel Huber, who is ranked number one in the WTA Premier Doubles rankings.
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