TENNIS FED CUP 2015 – One week after the end of the Australian Open, the focus of tennis fans now turns the first round of the World Group and the World Group II. The top-three players Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep will be in action this weekend. The first round of the World Group features exciting match-ups like Poland vs Russia, Germany vs Australia, Italy vs France and Canada vs Czech Republic. Diego Sampaolo
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will return to playing the Fed Cup seven days after battling it out for the Australian Open title in Melbourne.
Sharapova will provide the headline story this weekend when she will return to represent Russia for the first time since February 2012 in the Indoor match against Poland in Krakow. Masha, who skipped the Fed Cup in recent years, will play in the team event in order to be eligible for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Russia will be also represented by Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova, 2009 Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vitalia Diatchenko against the Polish team led by sisters Agnieszka and Urszula Radwanska. The Russian team will be looking to bounce back from the first-round loss against Australia in 2004.
There is a good possibility that Sharapova will face her Polish rival Agnieszka Radwanska in what could be one of the highlights of the weekend. Sharapova has a win-loss record of 11-2 in the previous 13 head-to-head matches against Radwanska. The Polish star helped her team return to the World Group with three wins against Spain.
The match between Poland and Russia will be held in the Krakow Arena on Indoor hard court. The Arena can hold 15000 spectators.
“I have had good success against Agnieszka but the matches have always been very tough and that’s what you have to expect against her especially in the Fed Cup environment”, said Sharapova.
Poland has not played a World Group tie on home soil since losing the match against Spain in Sopot in 2010. The Polish team gained promotion to the World Group last year.
“It’s very exciting to play at home. It’s going to be a huge match and there are going to be a lot of people out there because tennis is getting bigger and bigger in Poland”
Defending champions from Czech Republic will play against Canada in Quebec City. The Czech team will play without last year’s Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova, who contributed significantly to the win of the Fed Cup Trophy against Germany in Prague, but will rely on rising star Karolina Pliskova who reached the Sydney final earlier this year, Lucie Hradecka, who upset Ana Ivanovic in the first round at the Australian Open and Tereza Smitkova. Canada will miss their biggest star Eugenie Bouchard and rely on Gabriela Dabrowski, Sharon Fichman, Francoise Abanda and 16-year-old Charlotte Robillard Millette. Czech Republic boasts a 5-0 win-loss record in the previous head-to-head matches against Canada.
Czech Republic won eight Fed Cup titles and three of the last four editions.
Italy, who won four Fed Cup trophies, will be bidding to get through to the semifinals for the seventh consecutive year in the home match against France on Indoor clay at the 105 Stadium in Genoa.
The Italian team will be represented by their top player Sara Errani, Camila Giorgi, Roberta Vinci and Karin Knapp. Errani bounced back from a difficult start of the season reaching the third round at the Australian Open after being plagued by physical problems during the build-up to the season.
Giorgi played a good Australian Open in which she came close to an upset win over Venus Williams in the third round in Melbourne. Roberta Vinci reached the quarter final in Hobart before losing against Ekaterina Makarova in the second round at the Australian Open. Knapp, who also reached the Hobart quarter final, lost in the first round against Simona Halep in Melbourne.
Errani and Vinci have completed the Career Grand Slam last year winning the doubles title at Wimbledon, their second Major win in 2014 after the Australian Open.
The Italian team start as favourite but they cannot underestimate the French team captained by Amelie Mauresmo who will rely on Alizé Cornet, Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic and Pauline Parmentier.
Cornet, who beat Serena Williams twice in the WTA circuit last year, reached the third round at the Australian Open where she lost to Dominika Cibulkova.
Garcia also reached the third round in Melbourne where she lost to Eugenie Bouchard. Mladenovic lost the doubles final against at Wimbledon against Errani and Vinci last year.
France leads 6-3 in the head-to-head Fed Cup matches but Italy won their last three matches. Italy broke the losing streak in 2006 when they won 4-1 in Nancy. In the last two matches between the two neighboring countries Italy won 3-2 in Castellaneta Marina in 2007 and 5-0 in Orleans in 2009. In these two matches France featured Amelie Mauresmo, who will captain France in Genoa after guiding Andy Murray to the Australian Open last week.
A possible interesting match-up could feature World Number 13 Sara Errani and Alizé Cornet. Errani won the last four matches against Cornet since dropping their first head-to-head match in Charleston in 2008.
“My matches against Alizé have always been tough. I lost against Garcia twice last year. They have good players- We will play on clay but they are going to play very well on clay, so it will be very tough. I think that the Fed Cup will be always a very tough match. It’s always difficult to play for your country”, said Errani
The 2012 Roland Garros finalist explained that the secret for Italian success in the most recent editions of the Fed Cup which saw the “Azzurre” lift four titles and reach the semifinal for seven consecutive years, is the good relationship between the players inside the team.
“We are a very good team and we are very close friends outside the court. I think it is important when you have the week of Fed Cup. We are strong because stay really together. We know each other really well. We have fun. We love to play for our country and we feel very good playing in the Fed Cup. It’s important for us that we give everything on the court”, said Errani.
The winner of the match between Italy will take on either Czech Republic or Canada, who will make their debut in the World Group.
France has returned to the World Group for the first time since 2011. Cornet credits much of the success of the French team to Amelie Mauresmo.
“Mauresmo has been a good captain. She has a lot of experience and she always gives good advice. She knows how it feels how it feels to be on court. She knows what kind of emotion we are passing through during a match, so she has always the right words”, said Cornet.
Last year’s Fed Cup runner-up Germany will host Australia at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart on Indoor court. German captain Barbara Rittner will rely on Angelique Kerber, 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, Andrea Petkovic and Julia Goerges. Australia will feature Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova and Olivia Rogowska. Australia leads 8-5 in the 14 previous matches against Germany. Last year Germany beat Australia in the semifinal in Brisbane. Goerges is in good form at the moment after reaching the quarter final in Auckland and the fourth round at the Australian Open where she beat Bencic, Koukalova and Hradecka before losing to Makarova.
The World Group II will feature very interesting matches. The headliner will be Australian Open champion Serena Williams who will lead a star-studded US team against Argentina in Buenos Aires. The US team, which will try to return to the World Group, will also feature seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who reached the quarter final in Melbourne, Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys and World Number 30 Varvara Lepchenko. The US team leads 3-1 in the previous head-to-head matches against Argentina
The Danube Arena in Galati will play host to the match between home team Romania featuring last year’s Roland Garros finalist Simona Halep and Irina Camelia Begu (who reached the third round at the Australian Open) against Spain, who will be led by Garbine Muguruza, who will make her debut in the Fed Cup.
Dominika Cibulkova, who reached the quarter final at the Australian Open, will lead Slovakia against the Netherlands in Apeldorn. The Slovakian team starts as clear favourite
Seventeen-year-old Belinda Bencic, US Open quarter finalist, and Timea Bacsinszky, who finished runner-up in Shenzhen and reached the third round at the Australian Open, will carry the hopes of Switzerland against Sweden in Helsingborg
