Fed Cup Website

World Group 2008 - 1st Round
Israel v Russia Israel
USA v Germany USA
China, P.R. v France China, P.R.
Italy v Spain Italy

World Group II 2008 - 1st Round
Ukraine v Belgium Ukraine
Japan v Croatia Japan
Czech Republic v Slovak Republic Czech Republic
Argentina v Austria Argentina

WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND

ISRAEL v RUSSIA
Venue: Canada Stadium, Ramat Hasharon, Israel (hard - outdoors)

Israel
Shahar Peer
Tzipora Obziler
Keren Shlomo
Julia Glushko
Captain: Oded Jacob

Russia
Maria Sharapova
Anna Chakvetadze
Dinara Safina
Elena Vesnina
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

USA v GERMANY
Venue: La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, USA (hard - outdoors)

USA
Lindsay Davenport
Laura Granville
Ashley Harkleroad
Lisa Raymond
Captain: Zina Garrison

Germany
Tatjana Malek
Julia Gorges
Sabine Lisicki
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Captain: Barbara Rittner

CHINA, P.R. v FRANCE
Venue: Beijing International Tennis Center, Beijing, China, P.R. (hard - indoors)

China PR
Na Li
Shuai Peng
Jie Zheng
Zi Yan
Captain: Hong-Wei Jiang

France
Marion Bartoli
Amelie Mauresmo
Virginie Razzano
Nathalie Dechy
Captain: Georges Goven

ITALY v SPAIN
Venue: PalaVesuvio, Naples, Italy (hard - indoors)

Italy
Francesca Schiavone
Flavia Pennetta
Tathiana Garbin
Sara Errani
Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

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

WORLD GROUP II FIRST ROUND

UKRAINE v BELGIUM
Venue: Palace of Sports "Lokomotiv", Kharkiv, Ukraine (clay - indoors)

Ukraine
Alona Bondarenko
Katerina Bondarenko
Tetyana Perebiynis
Mariya Koryttseva
Captain: Volodymyr Bogdanov

Belgium
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Maes
Kirsten Flipkens
Tamaryn Hendler
Captain: Sabine Appelmans

JAPAN v CROATIA
Venue: Beans Dome, Mikishi, Japan (hard - indoors)

Japan
Akiko Morigami
Aiko Nakamura
Ayumi Morita
Rika Fujiwara
Captain: Minoru Ueda

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

CZECH REPUBLIC v SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Venue: BRNO Exhibition centre, BRNO, Czech Republic (carpet - indoors)

Czech Republic
Nicole Vaidisova
Lucie Safarova
Petra Cetkovska
Kveta Peschke
Captain: Petr Pala

Slovak Republic
Daniela Hantuchova
Dominika Cibulkova
Magdalena Rybarikova
Janette Husarova
Captain: Mojmir Mihal

ARGENTINA v AUSTRIA
Venue: Estadio Parque Roca, Buenos Aires, Argentina (clay - outdoors)

Argentina
Maria Emilia Salerni
Jorgelina Cravero
Betina Jozami
Clarisa Fernandez
Captain: Ricardo Rivera

Austria
Tamira Paszek
Yvonne Meusburger
Melanie Klaffner
Patricia Mayr
Captain: Alfred Tesar

why on earth did Russia pick Chokevetadze... :rolleyes: :shrug:

You think Israel will beat Russia Dinky???

i doubt it - although i don't know as much about women's tennis as i do about men's :shrug:

The key match will be the Peer v Sharapova match, I would expect Maria will win this one.
If Chokevetadze :rolleyes: is let loose on the singles then anything can happen there...
I would expect that Maria weould win her matches easily enough. Let's hope she plays, the Russian team will go ape sh*t if she doesn't turn up again...

I doubt Isreal would win even Peer DID win both her singles, which is highly doubtful given her recent form. I expect Russia to win this one 5-0 tbh, Even with ChakaCant on the team.

USA m going for a 5-0 win also over Germany, who have their weakest squad for a long time

China vs France seems much harder to call, with Momo and Bartoli being so unpredictable of late, you would think Li has a shot against them both and they are probably favourites to win the doubles Im going to France 3-2

Italy Spain could be another close one, but the current Italians always rise to this occasion and are at home on hardcourts. Italy 4-1

Ukraine must be favourites agaoinst Belgium with no Henin in the team. The Bondarenkos should take this 4-1


Kostanic is the only player ive heard of in the Croation team :unsure: so imgoing Japan 4-1

Looks like Hantuchova is flying the flag for Slovakia against the Czechs. I would expect her to beat Vaidisova and Safarova, and maybe win the doubles with Husarova. Slovakia 3-2

Dont know any of the Argies. Austria 5-0

Paszek, Mauresmo, Bartoli & Hantuchova have all withdrawn from their ties apparently.

Thats one way tickets for Czech and China to the next round then. Wherare Serbia in the draw anyway? Surely they should be top seeds :yikes: although at least Jankovic gets a full week off this week :phew:

Europe/Africa Zone Group I 2008

Venue: Budapest, Hungary

Surface: Carpet (Gerflor Taraflex), indoors

Dates: Week commencing 28th January

Nations: Belarus, Bulgaria, Denmark, Georgia, Great Britain, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland.

Format: Round-robin: fifteen teams divided into three pools of four teams and one pool of three.

Pool A: Bulgaria, Portugal, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Pool B: Switzerland, Great Britain, Denmark, Hungary
Pool C: Belarus, Sweden, Slovenia, Sweden, Georgia
Pool D: Romania, Poland, Serbia

The four pool winners will play off with the two winning nations advancing to the World Group Play-offs in April 2008. The nations finishing with the two losing nations being relegated the Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2009. Please note that the format is subject to change if any nation withdraws.

China 2-0 up against a depleted French team...

Peer looks set to take the opening rubber against Russia so The Ch.... :P Maria will need to really win her matches.

The Ch... I mean maria is 6-0 3-0 up in her first ever singles Fed Cup match... :yikes:

Russia now 1 all with Israel after Maria wins against Obziler...

Serbia beat Polad 2-1 and Romania 2-1!

But Jelena lost 2-1to S. Cisstea, which is quite concerning, and then her and Ivanovic just scraped past Cirstea / M.Niculescu
2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(2) :wacko:

But i'm sure Jelena and Ana will lead Serbia to victory pretty soon...

Think Jelena's loss is a shick, Lindsay Davenport loses to Lisicki in straight sets... :wacko:

http://www.fedcup.com/news/matchreport.asp?articleid=11279

Whilst an upset to be sure, I don't think Jankovic's loss to Cirstea is such a shock; the talented Romanian teen had something of a breakout season last year, posting some solid results at the WTA level (including a finalist finish in Budapest and a semi in Bali), with some class wins including Daniilidou and Schnyder. Also, it was a tight victory 6-4 in the third, and Fed Cup teammate Ivanovic was made to work to defeat Cirstea en route to the AO final, being pushed to 7-5 in the first set in their opening round encounter. Although still hovering on the verge of the Top 100, she is still a few months shy of her 18th birthday so I expect we will hear more from her.

What makes the loss a bit more surprising, however, is that Jankovic is still in decent enough form to have overcome AO quarterfinalist Radwanska the day prior, a solid win but eked out 7-5 in the third. It turns out to be decisive, since after scraping past 2-1, 2-1 over Poland and Romania, Serbia saw off Holland 2-0 and will join Switzerland in the World Group playoffs. It's not inconceivable that beginning next year they can begin to challenge for the title on the strength of a Top 10 duo à la Belgium at the start of the decade. Russia have considerable depth but apart from Sharapova they are all a bit dodgy in the consistency department; they of course remain the favourites every year regardless.

Japan have gone up 2-1 against Croatia with an unexpected drubbing of Kostanic Tosic (who posted Croatia's sole win yesterday) by Morigami. Nakamura is likely to clinch in the fourth rubber against the untested Ozegovic. Just as well since with Sprem out of action since the middle of last year, Croatia don't have the depth to rate in the World Group. China and now Spain are also likely to go through, needing to win just one match apiece today, although Italy had a good run of it with back-to-back finals, and perhaps it's not safe to count them out just yet. Russia should also be able to notch two wins between Sharapova and whoever faces veteran Obziler, with the doubles rubber as a firewall should there be an upset.

As for Davenport's loss ... :unsure: I don't know that I'd even heard of Lisicki, but that's surely the kind of opponent she brushed aside en route to her various Tier III titles since returning. How odd. But Germany, already an underweight side, are even more so playing their back bench; the US should still go through despite the bizarre hiccup.

Shahar Peer has certainly had some big defeats against the Ruskies in the last fortnight - she lost 61 61 to Sharapova. Russia win 4-1 overall.

Well assuming USA win, heres thye semi final draw:

Russia vs USA
Chinavs Spain

how top heavy can you get? :unsure:

are you talking about the draw or the ladies? ;) :P

roflmao

As expected, the US are through despite Davenport's stumble, as she not only rebounded to deliver her reverse singles rubber convincingly but Harkleroad came through again to clinch. Surprisingly, Davenport/Raymond still paired for the dead doubles rubber and, not so surprisingly, overwhelmed Groenefeld (ranked 300 now if you can believe it, after sitting inside the Top 15 less than two years ago) and Malek 6-2, 6-0 to wrap up the 4-1 victory.

As Liam said, rather top heavy draw, although perhaps not so much if one or both Williams sisters take a pass on the semifinal; this year Fed Cup isn't being played on the heels of their premier event of Wimbledon, so they might yet participate. They both claim to enjoy playing Sharapova so this is their chance to prove it.

Russia v. USA? That ought to be a good series!! Too bad Nadia P and Svetlana K aren't on the team. :(