Maria Sharapova will skip the Fed Cup semifinal against the USA in Moscow this month, and instead of her, Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead the Russian team.

World No.5 Sharapova and No.4 Kuznetsova are very busy, and both have the goal of taking the first spot in the rankings this year. As Sharapova played the last tie, against Israel, now it’s Kuznetsova’s turn. That has been the plan, and it’s fair enough.

The American team has been significantly weakened as neither Venus nor Serena Williams will play against Russia in the 26-27 April tie.

Russia have been the competition's most consistent team in recent years, winning the trophy on three of the last four occasions. (source: BBC)

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United States will be without Venus and Serena Williams for the Fed Cup semifinal against Russia in Moscow.

A few days ago the news went out that Lindsay Davenport tried to persuade Venus to play Fed Cup, but Venus smiled and simply said "Nope". Serena’s answer was similar.

In an interview after the match against Marina Erakovic at the Sony Ericsson Open, Venus explained the story behind her decision to miss the Fed Cup.

"You know, I've tried to support Fed Cup as much as I could these few years, but sometimes I just get tired. Moscow's a long way, and I've had quite a few long trips already this year," said world No.7 Venus Williams.

"I'm going to be playing Amelia and Charleston, so I just couldn't play five weeks in a row. Obviously, my commitment to the tour is very important to me also, so I just can't do everything." (image via SI.com)

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Since turning pro, Maria Sharapova has used band dampeners on all her racquets. At the recent Fed Cup match between Russia and Israel, the Australian Open champion received several OTZ Band Dampeners for evaluation purposes, the band dampeners developed by Women’s Tennis Blog’s sponsors.

Sharapova easily won her matches against Shahar Peer and Tzipi Obziler and the Russian team went on to beat Israel 4-1. Sharapova served well and consistently hit winners from both sides of the court. In addition, it appeared the world No.5 thoroughly enjoyed herself on the sidelines, heartily cheering on her Russian teammates in the face of a noisy Israeli home crowd.

This was the first time Sharapova has put on the Russian national uniform and played for her country. In last year's Fed Cup final between Russia and Italy in Moscow, Sharapova helped out the team as a practice partner, not being able to serve due to injury.

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The draw for the 2008 Fed Cup World Group and World Group II play-offs was announced and it was determined that Croatia will face Serbia in April’s World Group II play-offs. Croatian captain Goran Prpic didn’t hide his disappointment and said that that was the worst draw for them as Serbia currently has the strongest Fed Cup team in the world. Read more »

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Defending champions Russia beat Israel 4-1 to reach the Fed Cup semifinals which will be held in April.

Russian world number seven Anna Chakvetadze secured the tie after seeing off Israel's Tzipi Obziler 6-4 6-2.

Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina completed the victory by beating Shahar Peer and Obziler in the dead doubles rubber 6-0 1-6 6-4.

Earlier, Maria Sharapova crushed Israel’s number one Shahar Peer 6-1 6-1 to give the Russians a 2-1 lead. Sharapova was not at all surprised that Peer, ranked 17th in the world, managed to win only two games. "I have a good past record against her and I was not surprised… I hit a very powerful flat ball and she is more defensive, so it does not surprise me," said the Australian Open champion.

On Saturday, Sharapova beat Obziler to level the tie after Peer had overcome Dinara Safina. (via Reuters, photo via Fed Cup)

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