No tour events this week as it is the next round of the Fed Cup this weekend – Two interesting semi finals as well as some important play off matches. Before Sharapova pulled out with injury (or fear of Venus!) 9 of the top 10 had agreed to play.

WORLD GROUP SEMIFINALS

USA v RUSSIA
Venue: The Stadium at Topnotch, Stowe, VT, USA (hard - outdoors)

USA
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Lisa Raymond
Vania King
Captain: Zina Garrison

Russia
Maria Sharapova (out - replaced by Vesnina)
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Nadia Petrova
Anna Chakvetadze
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

A real blockbuster this one with a very strong Russian team against the Williams sisters! However Serena’s participation is in doubt following the injuries she picked up at Wimbledon. Without Serena and given the strength of the initial Russian team I would have given them the edge but with Sharapova out and Kuznetsova apparently doubtful I would have thought the USA will take this as long as Venus carries over her Wimbledon form.

With Serena
USA 4-1

Without Serena
USA 3-2

ITALY v FRANCE
Venue: Nova Yardinia, Castellaneta Marina, Italy (clay - outdoors)

Italy
Francesca Schiavone
Mara Santangelo
Roberta Vinci
Tathiana Garbin
Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

France
Amelie Mauresmo
Tatiana Golovin
Severine Bremond
Nathalie Dechy
Captain: Georges Goven

Another potentially tight tie which could go either way. Italy won this one last year so the French will be looking for revenge but they may not manage it. Mauresmo will be wanting to bounce back after Wimbledon but her confidence is bound to be at a low ebb and given her aversion to clay nowadays she may struggle. It doesn’t help that clay is the worst surface for the other memebers of the French team, where’s Marion Bartoli when you need her! In the French team’s favour though is that the Italian team is hardly in a great state. Schiavone has struggled lately & it will be interesting to see if she gets picked for the singles over the more in form Santangelo & Garbin. This one is very close to call but I think the French might just snatch it.

France 3-2



WORLD GROUP PLAY-OFFS

Strangely the play offs for the World group look less interesting than the play offs for the World Group II! A lot of that has to do with Japan, Belgium, Germany & China fielding weak teams so there are only two decent looking ties.

AUSTRIA v ISRAEL
Venue: ATZ Linz, Linz, Austria (clay - outdoors)

Austria
Sybille Bammer
Tamira Paszek
Yvonne Meusburger
Melanie Klaffner
Captain: Alfred Tesar

Israel
Shahar Peer
Tzipora Obziler
Anna Smashnova
Julia Glushko
Captain: Oded Jacob

Can Peer lead Israel into the world group? You feel it really is up to her unless Smashnova or Obziler can find their best form. Austria have the advantage of having two strong inform players and they really should take this one.

Austria 4-1

BELGIUM v CHINA, P.R.
Venue: Knokke Zoute Tennisclub, Knokke-Heist, Belgium (clay - outdoors)

Belgium
Yanina Wickmayer
Debbrich Feys
Tamaryn Hendler
Aude Vermoezen
Captain: Sabine Appelmans

China, P.R.
Tian-Tian Sun
Zi Yan
Sheng-Nan Sun
Chun-Mei Ji
Captain: Hong-Wei Jiang

Dullest tie of the competition – Ok Henin was never going to show up but Belgium haven’t even been able to field Flipkens! I’d say Belgium have no chance but China’s team doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence either! Since they have home advantage I’ll give this to Belgium.

Belgium 3-2

JAPAN v GERMANY
Venue: Sky Hall Toyota, Toyota, Japan (carpet - indoors

Japan
Erika Takao
Ayumi Morita
Tomoko Yonemura
Rika Fujiwara
Captain: Minoru Ueda

Germany
Angelique Kerber
Tatjana Malek
Andrea Petkovic
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Captain: Barbara Rittner

On paper the German team looks the stronger of the two since Japan is missing Sugiyama & Morigami. However Morita has played well recently and we all know Groenefeld’s problems so I’ll go with Japan here.

Japan 3-2

SPAIN v CZECH REPUBLIC
Venue: Club de Tenis Llafranc, Palafrugell (Girona), Spain (clay - outdoors)

Spain
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Lourdes Dominguez Lino
Virginia Ruano Pascual
Nuria Llagostera Vives
Captain: Miguel Margets

Czech Republic
Nicole Vaidisova
Lucie Safarova
Iveta Benesova
Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova
Captain: Ales Kodat

Another decent tie – Spain probably have a little more strength in depth but the Czech Republic have the two stars of the tie in Vaidisova & Safarova and that should be enough to see them through – would be great to see those two in the World Group next year.

Czech Republic 4-1


WORLD GROUP II PLAY-OFFS

Annoyingly the 4 best teams in this event have been drawn against each other! Given a better draw we might have seen Australia, Ukraine, Slovak Republic & Serbia all another step closer to the World Group but only 2 of them can make it through.

AUSTRALIA v UKRAINE
Venue: Royal Pines Resort, Ashmore, Australia (hard - outdoors)

Australia
Samantha Stosur (Withdrawn)
Nicole Pratt
Alicia Molik
Rennae Stubbs
Captain: David Taylor

Ukraine
Alona Bondarenko
Katerina Bondarenko
Yuliana Fedak
Yuliya Beygelzimer
Captain: Volodymyr Bogdanov

The Australian’s weren’t happy about losing to Austria and here is another tie they could easily lose. Alona Bondarenko is the best player here at the moment and if her sister can back her up then we could see another upset. I thought Australia could take this but with Stosur out I reckon Ukraine will win unless Molik shows her best form.

Ukraine 3-2

ARGENTINA v CANADA
Venue: Cordoba Lawn Tenis Club, Cordoba, Argentina (clay - outdoors

Argentina
Gisela Dulko
Jorgelina Cravero
Maria Emilia Salerni
Betina Jozami
Captain: Ricardo Rivera

Canada
Aleksandra Wozniak
Stephanie Dubois
Marie-Eve Pelletier
Valerie Tetreault
Captain: Rene Collins

Who knows! This is clay so Argentina should have the advantage.

Argentina 3-2

CROATIA v CHINESE TAIPEI
Venue: Tenis Klub "Split", Split, Croatia (clay - outdoors)

Croatia
Jelena Kostanic-Tosic
Nika Ozegovic
Ana Vrljic
Petra Martic
Captain: Goran Prpic

Chinese Taipei
Chin-Wei Chan
Chia-Jung Chuang
Su-Wei Hsieh
Yung-Jan Chan
Captain: Shi-Ting Wang

Argentina v Canada was hard to call but this is impossible! At a complete guess

Croatia 4-1

SLOVAK REPUBLIC v SERBIA
Venue: Steel Arena, Kosice, Slovak Republic (hard - indoors)

Slovak Republic
Daniela Hantuchova
Dominika Cibulkova
Jana Juricova
Kristina Kucova
Captain: Mojmir Mihal

Serbia
Jelena Jankovic
Ana Ivanovic
Vojislava Lukic
Ana Timotic
Captain: Dejan Vranes

Poor Hantuchova – she wouldn’t normally expect to be up against two top 10 players in a World Group II play off. This is Serbia to lose really. Hopefully they’ll soon be in the World Group – with Jankovic & Ivanovic playing they are in with a good chance of winning the Fed Cup.

Serbia 4-1

I see The Cheat has yet again pulled out of the Russian team :rolleyes:

Yeah, and your point is????? Nobody even cares about Fed Cup anymore :rolleyes: :rolleyes:


I mean sure it's quite interesting but if I was a tennis player my priority wouldn't be Davis Cup....

Well if she doesn't care about it, why has she made a big statement about it on her website... :rolleyes:

Because of publicity......

I love it how choka is so obsessed with his hatred of Sharapova that he spends more time talking about her than he does about tennis players he actually likes.... :rolleyes:

That's not actually true... :rolleyes:

And I have never said I 'hate' The Cheat, I just hate the cheating not her as an individual! :ok:

Yeah but cheating is such a minor part of professional tennis, in fact it barely comes up at all.....it's quality of tennis that wins matches, surely it's better to focus on that???

Well if it barely comes up at all, why do it?
Why get yourself a code violation at two Grand Slams so far this year not to mention countless other tournaments including the YEC??? :ok:

Well, all the top players, have it on their CVs. Martina Navratilova, Steffi, Chris Evert, Lindsay, Jennifer, Venus, Serena, Monica Seles, Amelie, Mary, Justine, Kim, Anastasia Myskina, Sveta, Elena Dementieva, Sanchez Vicario, Martinez all have it. Even Hingis tried it with Patty, but she just couldn't win that final!

Sharapova likes to add it to the CV, but I think this time she is aware that Venus and Serena are playing and wants to avoid another humiliation!!

I am sure if Russia somehow manage to reach the finals, then she might join for the finals as they will play against either France or Italy.

Pretty pathetic really..