Fri Apr 25 10:50:14 2008

Comment | Email | Print

Russians ready for weak U.S. Fed Cup team

---

Moscow, Russia (Sports Network) - The reigning champion Russians, led by U.S. Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova, will face a young American squad in this weekend's Fed Cup World Group semifinals.

The best-of-five tie on red clay at "Luzhniki" will get underway with a pair of opening singles rubbers on Saturday, as sixth-ranked Russian Anna Chakvetadze will take on Vania King and the world No. 3 Kuznetsova will face Ahsha Rolle.

On Sunday in Moscow, the reverse singles will pit Kuznetsova against King and Chakvetadze versus Rolle, while the fifth and final rubber, the doubles, currently calls for a Russian tandem of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva to take on an American duo of King and world No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber, formerly of South Africa.

The 17-time champion Americans are captained by Zina Garrison, who's in her last year as the skipper, while the powerful Russian are guided by Shamil Tarpischev, who also captains the Russian Davis Cup team. Garrison also has teenager Madison Brengle at her disposal this week.

The U.S. will play without any of its top performers, including former top- ranked stars Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport, all of whom made themselves unavailable this week. None of the Americans playing this week are ranked inside the WTA Tour's top 100.

Team USA and Russia have met six times in Fed Cup play, with the Americans owning a 4-2 advantage. The Russians, however, won their last meeting, a semifinal one in Stowe, Vermont, last year.

Russia has won three of the last four Fed Cup titles, while the U.S. hasn't captured the chalice since 2000. The Russians topped Italy in last year's finale.

The USA-Russia winner will meet the Spain-China victor in the final in September.

Fed Cup is the world's largest annual international women's team competition, with 86 countries competing this year.