TENNIS in DEPTH.

RUSSIA v ITALY

Venue: Sports Palace Megasport, Moscow, Russia

Surface: Indoor hard

The Italians are the two-time defending Fed Cup champions, but the absence of Flavia Pennetta and reigning Roland Garros winner Francesca Schiavone will make it very difficult for them to keep that run alive.

Corrado Barazzutti will instead have to rely on the services of Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani. Both are ranked inside the top 50, although they have largely played support roles for Italy in recent times.

Russia, on the other hand, has named a strong side that includes world No. 3 Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova, a former US Open and Roland Garros champion. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Makarova provide significant depth.

Russia

Vera Zvonareva

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Ekaterina Makarova

Shamil Tarpischev (captain)

Italy

Roberta Vinci

Sara Errani

Alberta Brianti

Maria Elena Camerin

Corrado Barazzutti (captain)

BELGIUM v CZECH REPUBLIC

Venue: Spiroudome, Charleroi, Belgium

Surface: Indoor hard

The injured Kim Clijsters has been forced out with shoulder and wrist problems, so Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens are the likely pair to lead the Belgian challenge.

“I think this is a great pity,” said Clijsters on her official website. “The Fed Cup is something I was really looking forward to, but I felt that something was out of the ordinary. There were too many minor ailments, one after the other, which did not seem to disappear. Something like that gets into your head.”

Czech Republic’s strength in depth is impressive. The in-form Petra Kvitova, who has won two titles in 2011 and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals, fills the No. 1 position for the visitors, while Lucie Safarova, Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova will be vying for the remaining singles spot.

Belgium

Yanina Wickmayer

Kirsten Flipkens

An-Sophie Mestach

Alison van Uytvanck

Sabine Appelmans (captain)

Czech Republic

Petra Kvitova

Lucie Safarova

Iveta Benesova

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova

Petr Pala (captain)

Bookmark It