WTA Nov 7-8 2009 Fed Cup Final Fed Cup World Group Final: Free Live Video: 1 Live Scores - in popup window USA 0 at Italy 4   Reggio Calabria brackets & results - news pics: Y!: sports - news | Fed Cup gallery mp3 audio: interviews - "Radio Player" Reggio Calabria, Italy forecast Italy: #11 d28 Flavia Pennetta #16 d19 Francesca Schiavone #47 d74 Sara Errani #64 d82 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti USA: #49 d322 Melanie Oudin #79 d32 Vania King #132 d101 Alexa Glatch #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez

Other Fed Cup pages: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Reggio Calabria, ITA: #11 Flavia Pennetta 5'7¾" RH 2H-BH Reggio Calabria, ITA: Schiavone, Errani, Pennetta, Vinci 2nd Italian Fed Cup Title

    On Sunday in Reggio Calabria, Italy, in the third "rubber" of the 2009 Federation Cup final "tie", 27-year-old #11 Flavia Pennetta of Italy clinched the Fed Cup title for Italy by defeating 20-year-old #49 Melanie Oudin of the USA, 7-5, 6-2 (Flavia is shown during the match, and with teammates Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci afterward). Pennetta d Oudin, game-by-game

    The win gave the Italians an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the USA. It is the second Fed Cup title for Italy; they defeated Belgium in the 2006 final.

    Flavia said: "It's a very nice feeling. We worked hard to get to this point and finally we make it. In the beginning of the week everyone expects so many things, and we were very nervous. But now we are three-love and we can enjoy." ITF story

    Melanie said: "I think I could have played better on some points. In the first set it was so close and I had a lot of chances, so I feel like if a couple things would have gone my way or if I would've hit this shot on that point, then it would have changed the momentum in the match. But after [Flavia] won the first set, just like what happened yesterday, she kind of ran away with it. I think I letdown a little bit."

    Regarding the absence of top-ranked US players Serena Williams and Venus Williams, Melanie said: ""I wanted to come here. I wanted to play for my country. Other people choose different things. Some people I guess didn't want to play as badly as I did.
    "But I think that the team that we had here really wanted to be here. You don't want people here that don't want to be here. Even if you lose, if you give it everything you have, then that's the best you can do." AP story

    Additional matches are not mandatory after a team has clinched, so the second reverse singles between Francesca Schiavone and Alexa Glatch was not played. The doubles was played, and Italians d74 Sara Errani & d82 Roberta Vinci kept the fans happy by defeating d1 Liezel Huber & d32 Vania King of the USA, 4-6, 6-3, (11-9).

    The overall final score: USA 0, Italy 4.

  Fed Cup mp3 Audio Interviews:

Fri, Nov 6: Captain Mary Joe Fernandez - Melanie Oudin - Alexa Glatch - Liezel Huber & Vania King
Captain Corrado Barazzutti - Flavia Pennetta - Francesca Schiavone - Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci

Thu, Nov 5: Melanie Oudin - Flavia Pennetta

WTA SCOREBOARD: Fed Cup World Group Final: #=rank, *=upset, d=doubles rank ranks are for the current week

USA 0 at Italy 4  Circolo del Tennis "Rocco Polimeni", Reggio Calabria, ITA outdoor: red clay stats, .pdfs Saturday, Nov 7, 2009 1000 GMT ITF story 1 #11 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #132 Alexa Glatch USA 6-3, 6-1 Pennetta d Glatch, game-by-game Flavia and Alexa driving forehand and backhand, Flavia about to slice a backhand, and after winning a point     Flavia said: "I'm really happy about this first match. It's tough to go to the court and play your best tennis when you play such a big event... When you finish the first set you just breathe a little bit and relax."     Alexa said: "At the beginning I thought I had a couple chances, but [Flavia] played extremely well and didn't give me a lot of opportunities... she didn't give me much to work with. There’s not much else to say, really." 2 #16 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #49 Melanie Oudin USA 7-6(2), 6-2 Schiavone d Oudin, game-by-game Francesca and Melanie driving forehand and backhand, and Francesca reaching for another forehand     No team has ever recovered to win a Fed Cup final after being down 0-2. To avoid Italy clinching at 3-0, Melanie Oudin must defeat Flavia Pennetta in Sunday's first match.     Melanie said: "I enjoy the pressure. I know the crowd will be going crazy tomorrow but it kind of makes me even more focused on what I’m doing." Sunday, Nov 8, 2009 1000 GMT 3 #11 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #49 Melanie Oudin USA 7-5, 6-2 Flavia serving, Melanie and Flavia driving backhands, and Flavia after clinching the title for Italy 4 #16 Francesca Schiavone ITA v #132 Alexa Glatch USA not played 5 d74 Sara Errani & d82 Roberta Vinci ITA d d1 Liezel Huber & d32 Vania King USA 4-6, 6-3, (11-9) United States: #49 d322 Melanie Oudin #79 d32 Vania King #132 d101 Alexa Glatch #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez Italy: #11 d28 Flavia Pennetta #16 d19 Francesca Schiavone #47 d74 Sara Errani #64 d82 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

Fed Cup Rules Overview     Fed Cup "ties" consist of 5 matches ("rubbers"), 4 singles and 1 doubles. Each country's # 1 singles player plays the other country's # 2 singles player the first day (the order of play decided by lot), and on the 2nd day they swap and the # 1s play each other, followed by the # 2s, followed by the doubles match. The teams are run by non-playing "captains" who are usually highly-regarded coaches and/or former players. The 3rd and 4th players on each team, at the captain's discretion, might not play at all, or might play doubles, or might substitute for an injured or struggling # 1 or # 2 player.     Only teams in World Group are playing for the Cup itself. Teams in World Group II are playing to get into the World Group (formerly known as World Group I) next year; teams in "Zonal Groups" are playing to get into World Group II next year.     Fed Cup rules state that player changes for the day's opening singles match must be made by the captains with the referee one hour prior to the start of play. Player changes for the second match of the day must be made by ten minutes after the conclusion of the first match. On Sunday, changes in the doubles line-up can be made up to 15 minutes after the end of the second singles match.

Fed Cup Structure Overview     89 nations are competing in Fed Cup play at 3 levels. 2005 was the first year that the Fed Cup used a a 3-tiered system similar to the Davis Cup system. 8 teams compete at the top level, called World Group (formerly called World Group I), and 8 more teams at the 2nd level, called World Group II. The remaining 73 teams are placed in Zonal Groups I, II, and III. Only the 8 teams in World Group are competing to win the Fed Cup in any given year; the teams in the lower 2 levels are competing to move up into World Group.     The 4 1st round (quarterfinal) winners in World Group each year will remain in World Group the following year. The four 1st round losers in World Group each year will play off against the 4 winners from World Group II, to determine the other 4 entries in World Group for the following year; the 4 losers of these playoffs are in World Group II the following year. Similarly, the 4 losers from World Group II each year will playoff against 4 Zonal Group winners to determine the other 4 members of World Group II the following year.     All these playoffs are held at the same time as the World Group semifinals, which are the weekend following Wimbledon.     So, essentially the teams play their 1st "tie" to try to advance, and if they lose, they play a 2nd "tie" which they must win to avoid being demoted. full explanation of Fed Cup structure     The remaining 73 nations playing Fed Cup tennis will play in "Zonal Groups" this year, trying to get into World Group II in the future.     There are three Zonal Groups, which also have levels, called groups, that the teams must work their way up through. The Europe/Africa Zone has 3 levels, while the Americas Zone and the Asia/Oceania Zone each have 2 levels.     Thus a team playing in Group III of the Europe/Africa Zone is trying to get into E/A Group II next year, E/A Group I the following year, World Group II the year after that, then to get into World Group I, and then, if they kept winning each year, can play in World Group I for the Fed Cup.

WTA Apr 25-26 2009 Fed Cup SFs Fed Cup World Group SFs: Live Scores - in popup window Russia 1 at Italy 4   Castellaneta, ITA USA 3 at Czech Rep 2   Brno, CZE World Group Playoffs: Live Scores - in popup window Serbia 4 at Spain 0 Slovakia 2 at France 3 China 2 at Germany 3 Ukraine 5 at Argentina 0 World Group II Playoffs: Canada 2 at Belgium 3 Israel 2 at Estonia 3 Japan 2 at Poland 3 Switzerland 1 at Australia 3 brackets & results - news pics: Y!: sports - news | Fed Cup gallery mp3 audio: interviews - "Radio Player" Castellaneta, Italy forecast Brno, Czech Republic forecast

Other Fed Cup pages: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Castellaneta, ITA, April 26: #44 Francesca Schiavone 5'5½" 141lb RH 1H-BH Brno, CZE, April 26: #114 Alexa Glatch (w/MJ Fernandez) 6'0" 145lb RH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Castellaneta, Italy, in the fourth "rubber" of the Russia at Italy semifinal "tie" of the 2009 Federation Cup competition, 28-year-old # 14 Francesca Schiavone of 2006 Fed Cup champions Italy clinched a place for the Italians in the 2009 Fed Cup final by defeating 17-year-old # 28 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008 Fed Cup champions Russia, 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-2 (photo shown).
    In the 3rd match in Castellaneta, # 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia had defeated Francesca's compatriot, # 14 Flavia Pennetta, 6-3, 6-0. In the moot doubles match which followed Francesca's clincher, Italians Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci defeated Russians Nadia Petrova & Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, making the final score Italy 4, Russia 1. ITF story

    Meanwhile, in Brno, Czech Republic, in the fourth "rubber" of the USA at Czech Republic Fed Cup semifinal "tie," 19-year-old # 114 Alexa Glatch of the United States surprisingly crushed, killed and destroyed 19-year-old # 48 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-1 (Alexa, who had similarly demolished # 29 Iveta Benesova on Saturday, is shown getting a hug from USA Captain Mary Joe Fernandez after match point).
    Since Lucie Safarova had defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third rubber, Alexa's win made the overall score even at 2-2. Bethanie returned to the court for the deciding match partnered with world doubles # 1 Liezel Huber. Liezel and Bethanie fell behind early, but successfully defended a match point against them while trailing 2-5 in the 2nd set, and defeated Czechs Kveta Peschke and Iveta Benesova 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1.
    The USA 3, Czech Republic 2 victory gave the apparently understaffed Team USA the berth versus the Italians in the November 7-8 Fed Cup final. The final will be held in Italy. US Captain Mary Joe Fernandez will ask the top two American players, Serena and Venus Williams, who have declined to participate thus far this year, to play. ITF story

    The World Group Playoffs and World Group II Playoffs, which will determine which teams are in the World Group and WG II next year, were also held on April 25-26.

World Group Playoffs: Winners Serbia, France, Germany and Ukraine will be placed in the 2010 World Group along with Italy, USA, Russia, and Czech Republic. Losers Spain, Slovakia, China and Argentina will play in World Group II in 2010.

World Group II Playoffs: Winners Belgium, Estonia, Poland and Australia will be placed in the 2010 World Group II along with Spain, Slovakia, China and Argentina. Losers Canada, Israel, Japan and Switzerland will play in Zonal Groups in 2010.

    Players on WG & WGII playoff teams included: Jelena Jankovic & Ana Ivanovic, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Alize Cornet, Dominika Cibulkova & Daniela Hantuchova, Jie Zheng & Na Li, Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, Shahar Peer, Agnieszka & Urszula Radwanska, Ai Sugiyama & Ayumi Morita, Samantha Stosur & Jelena Dokic, and many more fine players (click on the link for the full list). 2009 Fed Cup Round 2 team nominations

  Fed Cup mp3 Audio Interviews:

Sun, Apr 26:
Russia at Italy: Francesca Schiavone - Svetlana Kuznetsova d Flavia Pennetta
USA at CZE: Alexa Glatch d Petra Kvitova - Lucie Safarova - USA Captain Mary-Joe Fernandez
    Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands d Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke
WGpo: Serbia at Spain: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic | WGpo: China at Germany: Anna-Lena Groenefeld

Sat, Apr 25:
Russia at Italy: Flavia Pennetta d Anna Chakvetadze - Francesca Schiavone d Svetlana Kuznetsova
USA at CZE: Petra Kvitova d Bethanie Mattek-Sands - Alexa Glatch - USA Cap. Mary Joe Fernandez
WGpo: Serbia at Spain: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic | WGpo: Slovakia at France: Daniela Hantuchova d Alize Cornet - Amelie Mauresmo
WGpo: China at Germany: Sabine Lisicki - Anna-Lena Groenefeld | WGpo: Ukraine at Argentina: Alona Bondarenko - Mariya Koryttseva

Apr 24 draw:
Russia at Italy: Anna Chakvetadze - Svetlana Kuznetsova - Nadia Petrova & Anna Pavlyuchenkova
    Flavia Pennetta - Francesca Schiavone - Roberta Vinci
USA at CZE: USA Captain Mary Joe Fernandez - Liezel Huber & Bethanie Mattek-Sands - Iveta Benesova - Petra Kvitova
WGpo: Serbia at Spain: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic - Anabel Medina Garrigues
WGpo: Slovakia at France: Daniela Hantuchova - Dominika Cibulkova - Alize Cornet | WGpo: China at Germany: Sabine Lisicki

WTA SCOREBOARD: Fed Cup World Group Semifinals: #=rank, *=upset, d=doubles rank ranks are for the current week

Russia 1 at Italy 4  Nova Yardinia, Castellaneta Marina, ITA outdoor: red clay stats, .pdfs Saturday, Apr 25, 2009 1000 GMT ITF story 1 #14 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #22 Anna Chakvetadze RUS 6-4, 6-0 Flavia and Anna driving forehand and backhand, and Flavia after winning a point 2 *#44 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #9 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 Svetlana and Francesca driving forehand and backhand, and Francesca after match point Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 0930 GMT ITF story 3 #9 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #14 Flavia Pennetta ITA 6-0, 6-3 Svetlana driving a forehand, and Flavia about to slice a backhand 4 *#44 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #28 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-2 Francesca and Anastasia driving forehand and backhand, and Francesca getting a lift after clinching the win for Italy 5 *d113 Sara Errani & d156 Roberta Vinci ITA d d19 Nadia Petrova d83 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 Flavia, Francesca, Sara, and Roberta Russia: #9 d75 Svetlana Kuznetsova #10 d19 Nadia Petrova #22 d273 Anna Chakvetadze #28 d83 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Captain: Shamil Tarpishev Italy: #14 d21 Flavia Pennetta #37 d113 Sara Errani #44 d16 Francesca Schiavone #52 d156 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti Withdrawals: #6 d27 Vera Zvonareva tore ankle ligaments in Charleston

USA 3 at Czech Republic 2     Starobrno Rondo Arena, Brno, CZE indoor: hard (Acrylic) stats, .pdf Saturday, Apr 25, 2009 1130 GMT ITF story 1 *#48 Petra Kvitova CZE d #39 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 6-3, 7-6(2) Petra serving, Bethanie following a forehand on the run, and Petra after match point 2 *#114 Alexa Glatch USA d #29 Iveta Benesova CZE 6-1, 6-2 Alexa about to swat a forehand, and Iveta lauching a backhand on the run Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 1000 GMT ITF story 3 *#47 Lucie Safarova d #39 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 6-3, 6-1 Lucie driving a backhand, Bethanie following a forehand, and Lucie after match point in her home town 4 *#114 Alexa Glatch USA d #48 Petra Kvitova CZE 6-2, 6-1 Alexa ready to drive a forehand, and getting a hug from Captain Mary Joe Fernandez after match point 5 *d1 Liezel Huber & d55 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d d7 Kveta Peschke & d38 Iveta Benesova CZE 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 Liezel volleying a backhand, Liezel and Bethanie after match point, and Team USA Melanie Oudin, Alexa, Liezel & Bethanie United States: #39 d55 Bethanie Mattek-Sands #114 d179 Alexa Glatch #143 d425 Melanie Oudin #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez Czech Repbublic: #29 d38 Iveta Benesova #47 d84 Lucie Safarova #48 d882 Petra Kvitova #NR d7 Kveta Peschke Captain: Petr Pala Apr 25-26 World Group and World Group II Playoffs: World Group Playoffs: Ana Ivanovic is shown watching her backhand fly, and Jelena Jankovic is shown about to swat one, as the Serbs defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in Lleida, Spain... Anna-Lena Groenfeld and (row 2:) Sabine Lisicki are shown following backhands as the Germans defeated Shuai Peng and Jie Zheng of China in Frankfurt, Germany... World Group II Playoffs: Agnieszka Radwanska is shown driving a backhand while defeating Akiko Morigami of Japan in Gdynia, Poland, and, also in Gdynia, Ai Sugiyama is shown following a backhand while defeating Agnieszka's sister Urszula...

Fed Cup Rules Overview     Fed Cup "ties" consist of 5 matches ("rubbers"), 4 singles and 1 doubles. Each country's # 1 singles player plays the other country's # 2 singles player the first day (the order of play decided by lot), and on the 2nd day they swap and the # 1s play each other, followed by the # 2s, followed by the doubles match. The teams are run by non-playing "captains" who are usually highly-regarded coaches and/or former players. The 3rd and 4th players on each team, at the captain's discretion, might not play at all, or might play doubles, or might substitute for an injured or struggling # 1 or # 2 player.     Only teams in World Group are playing for the Cup itself. Teams in World Group II are playing to get into the World Group (formerly known as World Group I) next year; teams in "Zonal Groups" are playing to get into World Group II next year.     Fed Cup rules state that player changes for the day's opening singles match must be made by the captains with the referee one hour prior to the start of play. Player changes for the second match of the day must be made by ten minutes after the conclusion of the first match. On Sunday, changes in the doubles line-up can be made up to 15 minutes after the end of the second singles match.

Fed Cup Structure Overview     89 nations are competing in Fed Cup play at 3 levels. 2005 was the first year that the Fed Cup used a a 3-tiered system similar to the Davis Cup system. 8 teams compete at the top level, called World Group (formerly called World Group I), and 8 more teams at the 2nd level, called World Group II. The remaining 73 teams are placed in Zonal Groups I, II, and III. Only the 8 teams in World Group are competing to win the Fed Cup in any given year; the teams in the lower 2 levels are competing to move up into World Group.     The 4 1st round (quarterfinal) winners in World Group each year will remain in World Group the following year. The four 1st round losers in World Group each year will play off against the 4 winners from World Group II, to determine the other 4 entries in World Group for the following year; the 4 losers of these playoffs are in World Group II the following year. Similarly, the 4 losers from World Group II each year will playoff against 4 Zonal Group winners to determine the other 4 members of World Group II the following year.     All these playoffs are held at the same time as the World Group semifinals, which are the weekend following Wimbledon.     So, essentially the teams play their 1st "tie" to try to advance, and if they lose, they play a 2nd "tie" which they must win to avoid being demoted. full explanation of Fed Cup structure     The remaining 73 nations playing Fed Cup tennis will play in "Zonal Groups" this year, trying to get into World Group II in the future.     There are three Zonal Groups, which also have levels, called groups, that the teams must work their way up through. The Europe/Africa Zone has 3 levels, while the Americas Zone and the Asia/Oceania Zone each have 2 levels.     Thus a team playing in Group III of the Europe/Africa Zone is trying to get into E/A Group II next year, E/A Group I the following year, World Group II the year after that, then to get into World Group I, and then, if they kept winning each year, can play in World Group I for the Fed Cup.

WTA Feb 7-8 2009 Fed Cup QFs Fed Cup World Group QFs (Round 1): Live Scores - in popup window China 0 at Russia 5 Argentina 2 at USA 3 Italy 5 at France 0 Spain 1 at Czech 4 World Group II Playoffs: Live Scores - in popup window Belgium 1 at Slovak Republic 4 Germany 3 at Switzerland 2 Japan 1 at Serbia 4 Israel 2 at Ukraine 3 Zonal Groups: Asia/Oceania Americas Europe/Africa brackets-results - news pics: Y!: sports - news | Fed Cup mp3 audio: interviews - "Player"

Other Fed Cup pages: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Orleans: #12 Flavia Pennetta 5' 7¾" 128lb RH 2H-BH Moscow: #19 Anna Chakvetadze 5' 7" 128lb RH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Moscow, Russia, in the third "rubber" of the China at Russia 2009 Fed Cup quarterfinal "tie," 21-year-old # 19 Anna Chakvetadze from Moscow, Russia, defeated 24-year-old # 119 Zi Yan from Cheng Du, China, 6-1, 6-2 (photo shown).

    The win made the overall score Russia 3, China 0, clinching a 2009 Fed Cup semifinal berth for 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008 Fed Cup champions Russia.

    After Russia took a 2-0 lead on Saturday, Captain Shamil Tarpischev felt confident in substituting Anna and Alisa Kleybanova for Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who played the doubles instead. The Russkis also won the 4th singles rubber as well as the doubles, skunking the Chinese (missing their top three players, Jie Zheng, Na Li and Shuai Peng), 5-0.

    Anna said: "I'm happy with the way I played. I did have a tough time with my serve, and I know I have to work on it, and hopefully I'll get my confidence back and start to play better tennis...
    "We would have preferred to play France [in the semis] because we [would] play in Moscow, but they're losing at the moment, so it's most likely we'll play in Italy on clay, which will be tough for the Russians." ITF story

    Meanwhile, in Orleans, France, in the third rubber of the Italy at France quarterfinal tie, 26-year-old # 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy (residence: Verbier, Switzerland), defeated 19-year-old # 14 Alize Cornet from Nice, France, 6-2, 6-2 (photo shown).

    The win clinched victory for Italy over France, 3-0, and like the Russians, the Italians finished with a 5-0 shellacking of their opponents.

    Flavia said "It was a perfect match today, I hardly made any mistakes, I was very focused on my game. I tried to play best. It was tough for me to play after what happened yesterday. Now we can have a nice night out with a good dinner and maybe some dancing." ITF story

    Alize said: "I played really bad today. Flavia played great, but my tennis was not here today."

    Russia will play at Italy in the 2009 Fed Cup semifinals on April 25-26; USA will play at Czech Republic.

    The World Group Playoffs and World Group II Playoffs, which will determine which teams are in the World Group and WG II next year, will also be on April 25-26.

    For the World Group Playoffs, WG 1st round losers Argentina, China, France, and Spain were drawn against WG II 1st round winners Germany, Serbia, Slovak Republic and Ukraine.

Serbia will play at Spain.
Slovakia will play at France.
China will play at Germany.
Ukraine will play at Argentina.

The four winning nations will be placed in the 2010 World Group; the four losers will start in World Group II next year.

    For the World Group II Playoffs, WGII losers Australia, Belgium, Israel, and Japan were drawn against Zonal Group winners Canada, Estonia, Poland and Switzerland.

Canada will play at Belgium.
Israel will play at Estonia.
Japan will play at Poland.
Switzerland will play at Australia.

The four winning nations will be placed in World Group II in 2010; the four losers will start in Zonal Group I next year.

  Fed Cup mp3 Audio Interviews:

Sat Feb 8 day 2: Anna Chakvetadze - Elena Dementieva - Zi Yan | Lucie Safarova - Petra Kvitova - Nuria Llagostera Vives |
Flavia Pennetta - Alize Cornet

WGII: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic - Ai Sugiyama | A-L Groenefeld - Patty Schnyder |
Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko - Shahar Peer | Dominika Cibulkova - Kirsten Flipkens 1 - 2

Sat Feb 7 day 1: Gisela Dulko - Jill Craybas - US Captain Mary Joe Fernandez |
Flavia Pennetta - Amelie Mauresmo - Francesca Schiavone - Alize Cornet |
Elena Dementieva - Shuai Zhang - Svetlana Kuznetsova - Zi Yan | Nuria Llagostera Vives - Petra Kvitova - Carla Suarez Navarro

WGII: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic | Patty Schnyder - Sabine Lisicki |
Daniela Hantuchova - Dominika Cibulkova 1 - 2 | Alona Bondarenko - Shahar Peer

Fri Feb 6 draw day: Gisela Dulko - Jill Craybas | Iveta Benesova | Flavia Pennetta - Francesca Schiavone - Alize Cornet - Amelie Mauresmo

WGII: Ana Ivanovic - Jelena Jankovic - Ai Sugiyama - Ayumi Morita | Thu Feb 5 press conference: Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic

WTA SCOREBOARD: Fed Cup World Group 1 Round 1 (Quarterfinals): #=rank, *=upset, d=doubles rank ranks are for the current week

China 0 at Russia 5   Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia  indoor: hard (RuKortHard) ball: Wilson US Open Regular Duty Saturday, Feb 7 1100 GMT 1 #7 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #119 Zi Yan CHN 6-2, 6-4 Svetlana's forehand, Zi about to swat a backhand, and Sveta driving one 2 #4 Elena Dementieva RUS d #273 Shuai Zhang CHN 6-3, 6-0 Elena tossing the ball for her serve, Shuai's running forehand, and Elena's forehand drive Sunday, Feb 8 1000 GMT: ITF story 3 #19 Anna Chakvetadze RUS d #119 Zi Yan CHN 6-1, 6-2 Anna serving to Zi, Zi smashing a forehand, and Anna's backhand drive 4 #28 Alisa Kleybanova RUS d #275 Tian Tian Sun CHN 6-1, 6-1 5 d186 Svetlana Kuznetsova & dNR Elena Dementieva RUS d d22 Zi Yan & d40 Tian Tian Sun CHN 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 Russia: #4 dNR Elena Dementieva #7 d186 Svetlana Kuznetsova #19 d281 Anna Chakvetadze #28 d81 Alisa Kleybanova Captain: Shamil Tarpischev China: #119 d22 Zi Yan #273 d146 Shuai Zhang #275 d40 Tian Tian Sun #20 d25 Jie Zheng withdrew; left wrist injury Captain: Qi Zhang

>Argentina 2 at >   Surprise, AZ Tennis & Racquet Complex outdoor: hard (Decoturf) ball: Wilson US Open Regular Duty Saturday, Feb 7 1900 GMT ITF story 1 #75 Jill Craybas USA d #134 Betina Jozami ARG 6-2, 6-1 Jill and Betina driving forehand and backhand 2 #44 Gisela Dulko ARG d #151 Melanie Oudin USA 6-2, 7-5 Gisela driving a forehand, and Melanie about to lightly tap one Sunday, Feb 8 1900 GMT: 3 #44 Gisela Dulko ARG d #75 Jill Craybas USA 6-1, 6-3 Gisela serving to Jill, Jill's backhand drive, and Gisela after match point 4 #151 Melanie Oudin USA d #134 Betina Jozami ARG 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 5 d1 Liezel Huber & d83 Julie Ditty USA d d88 Gisela Dulko & d105 Betina Jozami ARG 6-2, 6-3 United States: #75 d49 Jill Craybas #105 d83 Julie Ditty #151 d430 Melanie Oudin #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez Argentina: #44 d88 Gisela Dulko #134 d105 Betina Jozami #181 d217 Soledad Esperon #462 d567 Aranza Salut Captain: Ricardo Rivera

Italy 5 at France 0   Palais du Sport, Orleans, France indoor: hard (Resin) ball: Wilson SE-WTA Tour Saturday, Feb 7 1300 GMT: 1 #12 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #23 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 Amelie driving a backhand, Flavia following one, and after winning a point 2 *#38 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #14 Alize Cornet FRA 6-1, 2-6, 8-6 Sunday, Feb 8 1230 GMT: ITF story 3 #12 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #14 Alize Cornet FRA 6-2, 6-2 Flavia about to swat a forehand, and after match point; no good photos could be found of Alize—in fact, AFP does not appear to have covered their own country's Fed Cup quarterfinal 4 #34 Sara Errani ITA d #23 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 6-3, 6-4 5 d102 Sara Errani & d228 Roberta Vinci ITA d d23 Nathalie Dechy & d131 Severine Bremond FRA 6-4, 6-4 France: #14 d103 Alize Cornet #23 d190 Amelie Mauresmo #58 d23 Nathalie Dechy #85 d131 Severine Bremond Captain: Nicolas Escude Italy: #12 d30 Flavia Pennetta #34 d102 Sara Errani #38 d17 Francesca Schiavone #81 d228 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

Spain 1 at Czech Republic 4   Brno Exhibition Center indoor: carpet Ball: Wilson Australian Open Saturday, Feb 7 1200 GMT 1 *#42 Petra Kvitova CZE d #30 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP 6-4, 6-4 Carla serving, and Petra's forehand drive 2 *#66 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP d #35 Iveta Benesova CZE 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 Nuria and Iveta driving forehands, and Nuria after match point Sunday, Feb 8 1100 GMT: ITF story 3 #51 Lucie Safarova CZE d #30 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP 6-4, 6-3 Lucie driving a backhand, Carla about to swat one, and Lucie after match point 4 #42 Petra Kvitova CZE d #66 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP 6-4, 7-5 Petra and Nuria driving backhands, and Petra after clinching the win for the Czechs 5 d7 Kveta Peschke & d37 Iveta Benesova CZE     d d21 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez & d93 Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP 6-4, 6-2 Czech Republic: #35 d37 Iveta Benesova #42 d901 Petra Kvitova #51 d75 Lucie Safarova #NR d7 Kveta Peschke Captain: Petr Pala Spain: #30 d545 Carla Suarez Navarro #66 d19 Nuria Llagostera Vives #68 d21 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez #74 d93 Lourdes Dominguez Lino Captain: Miguel Margets Lobato

World Group II & Zonal Groups: 2009: Agnes Szavay for a pic, and discussed team togs with Zsofia Gubasci, as the Hungarian team prepared for their Europe/Africa Zonal round-robin in Tallinn, Estonia (from iSzavay at Tennis Forum)... 2009: Photos of some World Group II winners, February 7, 2009: Belgrade: Ana Ivanovic volleying a forehand, and after winning a point while defeating Ai Sugiyama; Jelena Jankovic after winning a point, and driving a backhand while defeating Aymui Morita Zurich: Sabine Lisicki driving a backhand to, and after defeating, Timea Bacsinszky, and Patty Schnyder serving to, and after defeating, Anna-Lena Groenefeld Kharkiv: Shahar Peer driving a backhand while defeating Kateryna Bondarenko; Alona Bondarenko following a forehand to and after defeating Tzipora Obziler; Bratislava: Daniela Hantuchova and teammate Dominika Cibulkova after defeating Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2009 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2008 WTA Player Videos page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.