Fed Cup Minus A lot Of “Household Names”

Written by: Staff on 4th February 2014

Fed Cup Minus A lot Of "Household Names"

epa04026294 Samantha Stosur of Australia returns to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during the third round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 17 January 2014. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA |

FED CUP

Teams are already moving into place for the season start of Fed Cup play at the weekend. In the first round, Italy will play the US without any household names, Australia will face Russia in Tasmania, the Czech Republic take on Spain and Germany play the Slovaks.

Already on site are Germans Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber, who posted a post-training photo on Twitter, The tie in Bratislava will feature Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova and Daniela Hantuchova for the home side.

Sam Stosur will pace Australia in Hobart against Russia missing their big names. The Aussies have Casey Dellacqua, Ashleigh Barty and Fed Cup debutante Storm Sanders. Russia will make do with a pack of unknowns as the Sochi Olympic begins, with Anastasia Myskina fielding Victoria Kan, the highest-ranked on the squad at 160, Irina Kromacheva, Valeria Solovyeva and No. 689 Veronika Kudermetova.

In freezing Cleveland, the US is without any players of note and will depend on the likes of Madison Keys, Alison Riske, Chrstina McHale and Lauren Davis agassint holder Italy, with no-names Karin Knapp, Camila Giorgi, Nastassja Burnett and Alice Matteucci.

Spain (Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Lara Arruabarrena)

will go against Petra Kvitova and the Czechs.

Topics: 10sballs, Alison Riske, Andrea Petkovic, Angelique Kerber, Ashleigh Barty, Casey Dellacqua, Fed Cup, Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News