In the Fed Cup semi-final Italy and France will face each other at Castellaneta Marina on July 14 and 15 (surface: clay - outdoors).

Corrado Barazzutti, captain of the defending champions Italy, chose Tathiana Garbin, Mara Santangelo, Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci for the team. There will be no Flavia Pennetta since she lost to Marion Bartoli in the first round of Wimbledon.

On the other hand, Marion Bartoli won’t represent France in the Fed Cup since the captain Georges Goven turned down her request to be accompanied by her father and coach. French team consists of Amelie Mauresmo (who lost her Wimbledon crown falling to Nicole Vaidisova on Tuesday), Tatiana Golovin, Nathalie Dechy and Severine Bremond.

BTW: The Italians have had a worse Wimbledon in the singles than the Frenchwomen, with Santangelo losing to Mauresmo in the third round while Vinci, Garbin and Schiavone were all dumped out in the second round. (source: Reuters)

Share This

World number six Ana Ivanovic announced on her official website that she will play in the Fed Cup against the Slovak Republic. Ana enjoys playing for her country; so far she missed only one tie, in April, due to a busy schedule.

The first Serbian Grand Slam finalist said that she’s very excited because she believes that together with Jelena Jankovic, ranked third in the world, their team can achieve some great results. “We want so much to reach the World Group,” said the 19-year-old Ivanovic.

Furthermore, Ana made the decision to play less doubles, so as to be able to focus more on singles. “Doubles is great fun, but it can cause problems for singles, especially when there is a rain delay, or you need extra recovery time.”

“The worst thing would be if I had to withdraw from the doubles competition during a Grand Slam, because I was tired and needed to rest for singles – I would feel very bad, letting down a partner like that. Actually I would play anyway out of obligation, and that would not be a good situation.”

Therefore, Ana decided it was best not to commit to anything; her doubles partner Maria Kirilenko believes that Ana made the right decision.

Share This

I listened to a short interview of Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in which the rising tennis star talked about how she would love to represent her country together with Jelena Jankovic.

The 19-year-old Ivanovic thinks that Serbia has a very good Fed Cup team, and that they deserve a place in the World Group.

With united powers of these two great players, Serbia can certainly achieve a lot and become a real power in the Fed Cup.

Share This

Now we know all the members of the Fed Cup semis which will take place in July; France will face Italy, the U.S. will play Russia. Italy and the United States will have advantage of home court.

The United States reached the final four by defeating Belgium with a stunning 5-0 win. Of course, their victory wouldn't have been so convincing if best Belgian players, the top-ranked Justin Henin and fourth-ranked Kim Clijsters, decided to take part in this year's Fed Cup.

However, the U.S. team had one drawback; best-ranked U.S. player, Serena Williams, had to be substituted in one match because of her injury. Vania King, an 18-year-old, played Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens instead of Serena. King defeated Flipkens and booked her country's place in the semis. Now, the U.S. leads 5-1 over Belgium in their Fed Cup meetings.

As for Russia, they lived up to the expectations and reached the semis with a clear 5-0 score against Spain. Russia had as much as three top 10 players — fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova and eleventh-ranked Anna Chakvetadze. Even the lowest-ranked player in Russian team, world No.70 Elena Vesnina, was ranked higher than half of the Spanish team. Best-ranked Russian player, Maria Sharapova, planned to make her Fed Cup debut this year, but eventually withdrew because of problems with right shoulder and left hamstring; however, Russia obviously wasn't missing another great player, their team was strong enough even without Maria.

(source: Fed Cup official website)

Share This

Serena Williams of USA had to pull out of her Fed Cup match against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens because of minor inflammation in her right knee.

Serena's injury appeared after her Saturday's match against Caroline Maes, and her captain decided to replace her as a precaution.

Williams' team said that this injury is not related to her groin injury which, two weeks ago, forced her to leave the tournament in Charleston.

However, Serena's young replacement, Vania King added another point to the U.S. by defeating the Belgian player in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. This victory puts the U.S. into the Fed Cup semifinals where they will face Russia.

(source: Tennis Magazine, Fed Cup's official website)

Share This