Fed Cup Preview: Russia vs France

Written by: Staff on 29th January 2011

Fed Cup Preview: Russia vs France

Maria Sharapova (RUS) |

Russia vs France

Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia

February 5-6, 2011

Playing for Russia: Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Dinara Safina.

Playing for France: Alize Cornet, Virginie Razzano, Pauline Parmentier and Julie Coin.

Russia and France have met on eight previous occasions, with their last two meetings being in the 2004 and 2005 Finals. Russia won both of those finals and both in the deciding fifth rubber. The 2005 final was held at Roland Garros with a stadium capacity of 15,000. Overall, Russia leads France 5-3 in their head-to-head.

Russia missed out on a place in the 2010 Fed Cup Final after USA clinched the decisive fifth rubber in their semifinal clash in Birmingham, Alabama. They are back playing on home soil for the first time in two years and have won their last eight ties in Moscow. Interestingly, their last defeat on home ground was to France in the 2003 semifinals.

In 2010, France competed in the World Group play-offs for the third straight year and managed to salvage its record of never being out of the top tier of the competition. The French came from 2-1 down to defeat Germany in Frankfurt and return to the World Group. France is one of four nations to compete in every Fed Cup.