Four top 20 players Karolina Pliskova, Jelena Ostapenko, Venus Williams and Joanna Konta will be in the spotlight in the first round of the BNP Paribas Fed Cup this weekend. Serena Williams will play only the eventual doubles match on Sunday.
Serena Williams will make her eagerly awaited return after missing most of the 2017 season since her triumph at the Australian Open. The 36-year-old star gave birth to her first daughter last September and missed the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season in Melbourne. Williams will be in action this weekend when the US team will face the Netherlands in Asheville.
All Fed Cup rubbers will be played over the best of three tie-break sets for the first time in the history of this event as part of a new trial.
USA vs Netherlands:
The US team named by Kathy Rinaldi will feature a star-studded team featuring Coco Vandeweghe, two-time Grand Slam semifinalist and Fed Cup champion in 2017, Venus and Serena Williams and Lauren Davis. Serena will make her first appearance since winning her 23rd Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open. However, she was not selected for the singles matches, as she is not in her best shape. Her sister Venus will play the opening match against Aranxta Rus. Coco Vandeweghe will play in the second singles rubber against Rigel Hogenkamp. On Sunday Venus will face Hogenkamp, while Vandeweghe will take on Rus. In the eventual decisive doubles matches Serena will team up with Lauren Davis against Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs.
The defending champions, who beat Belarus in the 2017 Fed Cup final last November, will be strong favourites against the Dutch team, which features Arantxa Rus, Demi Scuurs and Lesley Kerkhove. This tie will be held at the US Cellular Arena in Asheville.
Czech Republic vs Switzerland:
Czech Republic is favourite against Switzerland in front of their fans at the O2 Arena in Prague. The home team has won six of their seven previous head-to-head matches against Switzerland. In their most recent head-to-head clash in 2016 Czech Republic won the decisive fifth rubber in 2016.
Czech Republic is formed by Barbora Strykova, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova Lucie Safarova.
Swiss captain Heinz Guenthardt has named Timea Bacsinszky, Belinda Bencic, Viktorija Golubic and Jil Teichmann.
Kvitova, who won the St. Petersburg final last week against Kristina Mladenovic, will play as Czech world number 1 after Karolina Pliskova has been forced to withdraw from the first day due to a stomac bug. She will play against Viktorija Golubic in the inaugural match. Golubic beat both Pliskova and Strykova in the 2016 Fed Cup. Strykova will take on Bencic in the second singles rubber. Pliskova will team up with Safarova against Bacsinszky and Teichmann in the doubles match.
France vs Belgium:
This year’s Australian Open semifinalist Elise Mertens will lead Belgium against France in La Roche sur Yon. The Belgian team formed by Kirsten Flipkens, Alison Van Uytvanck and Ysaline Bonaventure will be looking to win their seventh consecutive tie. This year’s Australian Open doubles champion and St. Petersburg finalist Kristina Mladenovic will team up with Pauline Parmentier and Amandine Hesse. Clara Burel has been named as French number 4 player after finishing runner-up at this year’s Australian Open Junior tournament.
Parmentier will open against Elise Mertens (winner of the last two editions of the Hobart tournament) in the first singles rubber on Saturday. Mladenovic will take on Kirsten Flipkens in Saturday’s second singles rubber. Flipkens made her debut in the Fed Cup at the age of 17 and will play in her 15th consecutive season at this event.
Belarus vs Germany:
Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Aryna Sabalenka will lead Belarus against Germany at the Chzhovska Arena in Minsk, the same venue where they lost last year’s final against the USA last November. Belarus will start as favourites against a German team, which will not feature their best players Angelique Kerber and Julia Goerges, but will rely on Tatjana Maria, Anna-Lena Friedsman and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Sasnovich is in great form this year and reached the final last January at the Brisbane International and has already won 19 Fed Cup matches in her career. She will face Antonia Lottner, who edged the player from Belarus in their only previous match in Stuttgart in 2014.
“I am very excited. I love to play at home. It’s an unbelievable atmosphere”, said Sasnovich.
Sabalenka will face Tatiana Maria, who will make her first appearance in the Fed Cup since 2011. Sabalenka beat Maria 6-3 7-5 in their previous head-to-head match in Tashkent. Sabalenka won two decisive rubbers helping Belarus reach the 2017 Fed Cup final. Friedsman and Groenefeld will take on Vera Lapko and Lidziya Marozava in the doubles match.
World Group II:
Italy vs Spain:
Sara Errani will lead a young team formed by Jasmine Paolini, Deborah Chiesa and this year’s Australian Open Junior semifinalist Elisabetta Cocciaretto against the Spanish team captained by new captain Anabel Medina Garrigues, which will feature Carla Suarez Navarro, Lara Arruabarrena, Georgina Garcia Perez and Mara José Martinez Sanchez. Italy has not beaten Spain in the Fed Cup since 2006. The Pala Tricalle Sandro Leombroni in Chieti will be the venue of this Fed Cup tie.
Romania vs Canada:
This year’s Australian Open finalist and world number 2 Simona Halep will lead Romania against a youn Canadian team in Cluj-Napoca. The Romanian team will be formed bt two more top 50 players Sorana Cristea. Irina Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru. They will be stong favourites against Canada, which will be represented by Carol Zhao, Bianca Andreescu, Katherine Sebov and this year’s Australian Open mixed doubles champion Gabriela Dabrowski.
Slovakia vs Russia:
The Aegon Arena in Bratislava is the venue of the tie between Slovakia and Russia. World number 19 Magdalena Rybarikova leads the home team which will also feature Jana Cepelova, Viktoria Kuzmova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. In the Russian team 2016 Wimbledon girls singles champion Anastasia Potapova will make her debut in the Fed Cup. The other three players Natalya Vikhlyantseva, Anna Kalinskaya and Veronika Kudermetova have made just one appearance at this event.
Australia vs Ukraine:
Australia will host Ukraine in Canberra on grass. The home team will start as strong favourite as they feature a strong team formed by Ashleigh Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Casey Dellacqua and Destanee Aieva. Fifteen-year-old Marta Kostyuk will make her debut in the Fed Cup after reaching the third round at the Australian Open last January. Lyudmila Kichenko, Nadilia Kichenok and Daria Lopatetska will be the other three members of the Ukrainian team. Ukraine won three of the last four Fed Cup ties against Australia.
