WTA Nov 6-7 2010 Fed Cup Final Fed Cup World Group Final: Free Live Video: Live Scores - in popup window Italy 3 at USA 1   San Diego, CA brackets & results - news pics: DL | Y!: sports - news mp3 audio: interviews San Diego, California forecast Italy: #7 d43 Francesca Schiavone #23 d2 Flavia Pennetta #38 d39 Roberta Vinci #42 d32 Sara Errani Captain: Corrado Barazzutti USA: #58 d17 Bethanie Mattek-Sands #67 d136 Melanie Oudin #114 d304 CoCo Vandeweghe #NR d3 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez

Other Fed Cup pages: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next San Diego: #23 Flavia Pennetta 5'7¾" 128lb RH 2H-BH San Diego: F Schiavone, F Pennetta, R Vinci & S Errani 2nd Straight Fed Cup Title for Italy

On Sunday in San Diego, California, in the third "rubber" of the 2010 Fed Cup Final "tie," between 2009 Fed Cup champs Italy and 2009 runner-ups USA, a 2009 US Open quarterfinalist, 19-year-old #67 (career-high: #31) Melanie Oudin from Marietta, Georgia, defeated this year's French Open champion, 30-year-old #7 Francesca Schiavone of Italy (residence: London, England), 6-3, 6-1. as it happened     Melanie said: "I was playing for myself, the team and the whole U.S. Sometimes the Fed Cup can bring out the best in people and that's what happened today... Today is the best I've played in a long time. I felt confident out there." AP story     Francesca said: "I feel sad for the team. It's just one point and it's not finished... [Melanie] was ready for everything and her energy—she played very long rallies."     Melanie's victory kept hopes alive that Team USA could reach 2-2 against the Italians, and bring the best of five to a deciding doubles rubber.     Later in San Diego, in the fourth "rubber" of the "tie," this year's champion at Marbella, Spain, 28-year-old #23 Flavia Pennetta of Italy (residence: Verbier, Switzerland), handily defeated 18-year-old #114 CoCo Vandeweghe from New York, New York, 6-1, 6-2 (Flavia is shown during the match, and the Italian team with the hardware afterward). as it happened     Flavia's win clinched the 2010 Fed Cup title for the Italians with a 3-1 lead over Team USA in the best of five. The now academic doubles match was left unplayed.     Flavia said: "I always think in Fed Cup you can beat everyone, you can lose to everyone. It's not easy to play for your country, to give your best for the time that you are on the court, because sometime you can be real nervous and you can have a panic attack. But I really enjoyed today for my country. I enjoyed playing for this team."

Fed Cup 2011:
    Italy will play at Australia on February 5 and 6 in the 1st round (quarterfinals) of the 2011 Fed Cup competition; the USA will play at Belgium. The rest of the World Group: Russia, seeded third, will play at France, and the Czech Republic, seeded 4th, will play right next door, against the Slovak Republic.

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

Italy 3 at USA 1  San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA indoor: hard (Premier) Saturday, Nov 6, 2010 2000 GMT 1 #7 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #114 CoCo Vandeweghe USA 6-2, 6-4 Francesca and CoCo driving forehand and backhand, and Francesca, following a backhand, working on the WTA "hang time" record     The victor was generous to Fed Cup rookie CoCo. Francesca said: "She is young and played a good match for the first time in Fed Cup." AP story     CoCo said: "The second set was played a lot better by me and I felt more comfortable with her game and her patterns matching up to my game. I kind of found a little more rhythm." 2 #23 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #58 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 7-6(4), 6-2 Flavia's service toss, Bethanie and Flavia driving forehand and backhand, and Flavia after match point Sunday, Nov 7, 2010 2100 GMT 3 *#67 Melanie Oudin USA d #7 Francesca Schiavone ITA 6-3, 6-1 Francesca and Melanie driving forehands, and Francesca congratulating Melanie after match point 4 #23 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #114 CoCo Vandeweghe USA 6-1, 6-2 Flavia serving, CoCo and Flavia driving forehands, and Flavia after clinching the 2010 Fed Cup for Italy 5 doubles left unplayed United States: #58 d17 Bethanie Mattek-Sands #67 d136 Melanie Oudin #114 d304 CoCo Vandeweghe #NR d3 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez Italy: #7 d43 Francesca Schiavone #23 d2 Flavia Pennetta #38 d39 Roberta Vinci #42 d32 Sara Errani Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

    (Nov 5, 2010) The draw for the 2010 Fed Cup final was held at SeaWorld San Diego on Friday afternoon. US Captain Mary Joe Fernandez decided to play #114 Coco Vandeweghe at 2nd singles instead of 2009 US Open quarterfinalist #67 Melanie Oudin.
    Mary Joe said: "I was thinking who the best matchup for Schiavone would be. She's such a different style of player than I think the players are accustomed. I decided with Coco, with her height, her serve, her ability to really hit the ball up here, that's a good choice to start the day." Fed Cup story

    If the Americans are so fortunate as to reach a tie at 2-2 on Sunday, Bethanie Mattek will almost certainly replace Melanie Oudin at doubles as well (and Flavia Pennetta might then be on the Italian doubles team).

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 24-25 2010 Fed Cup SFs Fed Cup World Group SFs: Free Live Video? Live Scores - in popup window Czech Rep 0 at Italy 5   Rome, ITA Russia 2 at USA 3 Birmingham, AL World Group Playoffs: Live Scores - in popup window Estonia 2 at Belgium 3 Australia 5 at Ukraine 0 France 3 at Germany 2 Slovakia 3 at Serbia 2 World Group II Playoffs: Spain 4 at Poland 1 China 2 at Sweden 3 (Apr 25-26) Argentina 0 at Canada 5 Japan 1 at Slovenia 4 brackets-results - news pics: DL - Y!: sports - news | Fed Cup mp3 audio: interviews - "Player" Rome weather forecast

Other Fed Cup pages: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Rome: #15 Flavia Pennetta 5'7¾" 128lb RH 2H-BH Birmingham: #129 Bethanie Mattek-Sands 5'6" 145lb RH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Rome, Italy, in the third "rubber" of the Czech Republic at Italy semifinal "tie" of the 2010 Federation Cup competition, 27-year-old #15 Flavia Pennetta of 2006 and 2009 Fed Cup champions Italy clinched a place for the Italians in this year's Fed Cup finals by defeating 19-year-old #60 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 7-6(3), 6-2 (photo shown).

    The win gave Italy an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the Czechs. Flavia said: "I was really nervous... but I did my best and tried to fight from the beginning to the end—and here we are in the final again." ITF story

    The remaining two matches were moot; the Italians won both, making the final score Italy 5, Czech Republic O.

    Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Alabama, in the third "rubber" of the Russia at USA Fed Cup semifinal "tie," this year's champion in Paris and Sydney, 28-year-old #6 Elena Dementieva of 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008 Fed Cup champions Russia defeated a 2009 US Open quarterfinalist, 18-year-old #31 Melanie Oudin from Marietta, Georgia, 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3.

    The win gave the Russians a 2-1 lead over the USA with two matches remaining. In the 4th rubber, 24-year-old #129 Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA evened the score at 2-2 by defeating 21-year-old #60 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 (photo shown).

    The USA then went on to win the deciding doubles, with WTA doubles #1 Liezel Huber and Bethanie defeating Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-3, 6-1.

    Italy will play the United States in the Fed Cup finals on November 6-7, a rematch of last year's final, when Italy defeated the USA 4-0 at Reggio Calabria. But this time Italy will be traveling: the Americans have choice of ground against the Italians.

    2011 World Group playing for the Fed Cup: Italy, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Australia, France, Slovakia.
    2011 World Group II playing to get into WG: Estonia, Ukraine, Germany, Serbia, Spain, Canada, Slovenia, Sweden.

    (Apr 25, 2010) Former WTA #1 Kim Clijsters is considered doubtful for this year's French Open after tearing a muscle in her left foot on Saturday in Belgium's Fed Cup World Group Playoff tie against Estonia. Kim may be out of action for six week's, the French Open is only 4 weeks away AP story.
    Kim's compatriot, former #1 Justine Henin, filled in for Kim on Sunday despite a broken finger. Justine broke the little finger of her left hand when she caught a ball with the hand while practicing on Wednesday. Kaia Kanepi of Estonia defeated Justine 6(6)-7, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours, 34 minutes. However, Belgium defeated Estonia 3-2 overall, and earned a place in the World Group in 2011. Teams in the World Group play for the Fed Cup title.

  Fed Cup mp3 Audio Interviews:

Sun Apr 25:  Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Liezel Huber - Elena Dementieva d Melanie Oudin
Flavia Pennetta d Petra Kvitova - Sara Errani

Sat Apr 24:  Melanie Oudin d Alla Kudryavtseva
Elena Dementieva d Bethanie Mattek-Sands - USA Capt. Mary Joe Fernandez
Flavia Pennetta d Lucie Hradecka - Francesca Schiavone d Lucie Safarova

Fri Apr 23 Draw Day:
Elena Dementieva - Melanie Oudin - USA Capt. Mary Joe Fernandez

Flavia Pennetta - Lucie Hradecka - Francesca Schiavone - Lucie Safarova
Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci - Petra Kvitova & Kveta Peschke

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

Czech Republic 0 at Italy 5  Foro Italico - Stadio Nicola Pietrangeli, Rome, Italy   outdoor: red clay Saturday, Apr 24, 2010 1200 GMT 1 #15 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #74 Lucie Hradecka CZE 6-4, 7-5 Lucie and Flavia driving backhand and forehand, and Flavia after match point     Lucie took a 4-1 lead in both sets. Lucie said: "I hope the next match will be the same condition but with a good finish." ITF story 2 #17 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #38 Lucie Safarova CZE 6-0, 6-2 Lucie and Francesca driving backhand and forehand, and Francesca after match point Sunday, Apr 25, 2010 1030 GMT 3 #15 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #60 Petra Kvitova 7-6(3), 6-2 Kveta and Flavia driving forehand and backhand, and Flavia after match point 4 #3 Sara Errani ITA d #74 Lucie Hradecka CZE 6-4, 6-2 5 d25 Francesca Schiavone & d45 Sara Errani ITA d d17 Kveta Peschke d38 Lucie Hradecka CZE 6-2, 6-4 Sara driving a backhand while Francesca looks on Czech Repbublic: #38 d294 Lucie Safarova #60 d394 Petra Kvitova #74 d38 Lucie Hradecka #NR d17 Kveta Peschke Captain: Petr Pala Italy: #15 d23 Flavia Pennetta #17 d25 Francesca Schiavone #36 d45 Sara Errani #58 d47 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

Russia 2 at USA 3  Jefferson Convention Complex Arena, Birmingham, Alabama   indoor: hard (Premier) Saturday, Apr 24, 2010 1800 GMT ITF story 1 #31 d216 Melanie Oudin USA d #78 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS 6-3, 6-3 Alla and Melanie driving backhands, and Melanie after match point     Melanie said: "I thought I played a really good, solid match all the way through. A little rocky in the beginning of the first set, but I thought I closed it out really well." ITF story 2 #6 Elena Dementieva RUS d #129 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 6-4, 6-3 Elena driving a forehand, Bethanie driving a backhand, and Elena after match point     Elena said: "I expect a tough match against Melanie [on Sunday]. I think this kind of court [indoor hard] suits her game. Physically she looks pretty fit, pretty good at this match against Alla. Tomorrow I will be aggressive from the beginning, try not to go to long rallies because I know she feels very comfortable at the baseline." Sunday, Apr 25, 2010 1800 GMT ITF story 3 #6 Elena Dementieva RUS d #31 d216 Melanie Oudin USA 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3 Melanie and Elena driving forehand and backhand, and Elena after match point 4 #129 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d #62 Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 Ekaterina and Bethanie driving backhands 5 d1 Liezel Huber & d14 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA     d d36 Alla Kudryavtseva & dNR Elena Dementieva RUS 6-3, 6-1 Russia: #6 dNR Elena Dementieva #62 d18 Ekaterina Makarova #78 d36 Alla Kudryavtseva #29 d94 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew Captain: Shamil Tarpishev United States: #31 d216 Melanie Oudin #129 d14 Bethanie Mattek-Sands #374 dNR Sloane Stephens #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez Apr 24-25 World Group Playoffs: Sat, Apr 24: Daniela Hantuchova while defeating Bojana Jovanovski in Belgrade; Jelena Jankovic while defeating Magdalena Rybarikova in Belgrade; Kim Clijsters while defeating Maret Ani in Hasselt... Sat, Apr 24: Anastasia Rodionova while defeating Alona Bondarenko & Samantha Stosur while defeating Mariya Koryttseva, in Karkiv...

    (Apr 23, 2010) For the Russia at USA 2010 Fed Cup semifinals (Apr 24-25), US Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez left one place open on the US team in case Venus Williams decided to play. Venus, however, is unable to play, and the spot has now been filled by #374 Sloane Stephens. 2010 Fed Cup Semifinal Team Player Nominations

WTA Feb 6-7 2010 Fed Cup QFs Fed Cup World Group QFs (Round 1): Free Live Video: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 Live Scores - in popup window Italy 4 at Ukraine 1 Germay 2 at CZE 3 Russia 3 at Serbia 2 USA 4 at France 1 World Group II: Live Scores - in popup window Spain 2 at Australia 3 Belgium 3 at Poland 2 Argentina 1 at Estonia 4 China 2 at Slovakia 3 Zonal Groups: 2010 Zonal Venues Asia/Oceania Americas Europe/Africa brackets-results - news pics: DL - Y!: sports - news | Fed Cup mp3 audio: interviews - "Player"

Other Fed Cup pages: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Belgrade, Serbia: #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 5' 8½" 161lb RH 2H-BH Lievin, France: #53 Melanie Oudin 5'6" 130lb RH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Belgrade, Serbia, in the 1st round (quarterfinals) of the 2010 Fed Cup, in the deciding doubles "rubber" of the Russia versus Serbia "tie," the 2009 French Open champion, 24-year-old #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, and her teammate from Moscow, 20-year-old #31 Alisa Kleybanova, defeated 24-year-old #8 (and former #1) Jelena Jankovic from Belgrade, Serbia, and her teammate, 22-year-old #23 (and former #1) Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-4 (Svetlana is shown during her singles match against Jelena Jankovic).

    Serbia had taken a 2-1 lead over Russia when Jelena defeated Svetlana in the first match of the day, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. But Alisa then evened the score at 2-2 by defeating Ana, 6-2, 6-3. The win in doubles gave 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008 Fed Cup champions Russia the overall win over World Group rookies Serbia, 3-2, and thus Russia again advances to the Fed Cup semifinals.

    Meanwhile, in Lievin, France, in the France versus USA World Group "tie," a 2009 US Open quarterfinalist, 18-year-old #53 Melanie Oudin from Marietta, Georgia, put the USA into the Fed Cup semifinals by defeating 27-year-old #76 Julie Coin from Amiens, France, 7-6(3), 6-4 (Melanie is shown after match point).

    Melanie said: "In the beginning, I was a bit nervous and she was serving great, but as the match advanced I got more and more confident, and I’m obviously thrilled that I was able to allow the US to go to the semis." ITF story

    Julie said: "I had the break in the first but I was not able to hold on to it. It’s really too bad because I felt good out there. I took risks and I really wanted to give a point to my team and give Pauline a chance to level the tie."

    Melanie's win gave the USA a insurmountable 3-0 lead over France, and clinched a place for her team in the Fed Cup semis. The two remaining matches were academic: France's Pauline Parmentier defeated Christina McHale of the USA, 6-4, 6-4, and, in doubles, Liezel Huber & Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA defeated Alizé Cornet & Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France, 6-2, 6-3. The overall final score: USA 4, France 1.

    • In the 2010 Fed Cup semifinals, April 24-25, USA will host Russia, and defending Fed Cup champions Italy will host the Czech Republic.

    • In the World Group Playoffs, also April 24-25, 1st round World Group losers France, Serbia, Germany, & Ukraine will play against World Group II winners Australia, Belgium, Estonia & Slovakia. The 4 winners of these "ties" will be in the World Group in 2011 (along with the USA, the Czech Republic, Russia, & Italy), and the 4 losers will be in World Group II next year.

    • In Zonal Group play on Saturday, Japan, Sweden, Slovenia, & Canada won their promotional playoffs, and will advance to the World Group II playoffs on April 24-25, where they will face the losers of this weekend's World Group II matchups: Spain, China, Poland, & Argentina. The winners of those "ties" on Apr 24-25 will comprise half of World Group II next year, the other half of the 2011 WGII being the losers of the same weekend's playoffs between this year's WGII winners and World Group 1st round losers.

  Fed Cup mp3 Audio Interviews:

Sun Feb 7: Jelena Jankovic d Svetlana Kuznetsova - Alisa Kleybanova d Ana Ivanovic -
Kuznetsova & Kleybanova d Jankovic & Ivanovic | Lucie Hradecka d Andrea Petkovic | Melanie Oudin d Julie Coin
Francesca Schiavone d Kateryna Bondarenko - Flavia Pennetta d Alona Bondarenko

Sat Feb 6: Jelena Jankovic d Alisa Kleybanova - Svetlana Kuznetsova d Ana Ivanovic
Petra Kvitova d Andrea Petkovic - Anna-Lena Groenefeld d Lucie Safarova
Alona Bondarenko d Francesca Schiavone | Bethanie Mattek-Sands d Alizé Cornet

Fri Feb 5 Draw Day:
Jelena Jankovic - Ana Ivanovic - Svetlana Kuznetsova - Alisa Kleybanova - Vera Dushevina & Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Lucie Safarova - Petra Kvitova - Anna-Lena Groenefeld - GER Cap Barbara Rittner | USA Cap Mary Joe Fernandez

Pre-1st Round: Jelena Jankovic - Mary Joe Fernandez - Alona Bondarenko - Agnieszka Radwanska

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

Russia 3 at Serbia 2   Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia  indoor: hard (RuKortHard) ball: Wilson US Open Saturday, Feb 6 1500 GMT ITF story 1 #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #23 Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-1, 6-4 Svetlana following a forehand, and Ana's backhand drive 2 #8 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #31 Alisa Kleybanova RUS 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 Alisa and Jelena driving forehands, and Jelena after winning a point Sunday, Feb 7 1300 GMT ITF story 3 *#8 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 Svetlana serving, and Jelena's backhand drive 4 *#31 Alisa Kleybanova RUS d #23 Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-2, 6-3 Ana serving, and Alisa following a backhand 5 d10 Alisa Kleybanova & d46 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d dNR Jelena Jankovic & dNR Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-1, 6-4 Alisa and Svetlana after match point Russia: #4 d46 Svetlana Kuznetsova #31 d10 Alisa Kleybanova #38 d86 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova #40 d44 Vera Dushevina Captain: Shamil Tarpischev Serbia: #8 dNR Jelena Jankovic #23 dNR Ana Ivanovic #131 d536 Bojana Jovanovski #235 d317 Ana Jovanovic Captain: Dejan Vranes

USA 4 at France 1   Stade Couvert Regional Lievin, Lievin, France indoor: red clay Saturday, Feb 6 1230hrs GMT ITF story 1 *#140 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d #65 Alizé Cornet FRA 7-6(7), 7-5 Alizé and Bethanie driving forehand and backhand 2#53 Melanie Oudin USA d #104 Pauline Parmentier FRA 6-4, 6-4 Pauline about to swat a forehand, Melanie driving a backhand, and after match point Sunday, Feb 7 1200hrs GMT ITF story 3 #53 Melanie Oudin USA d #76 Julie Coin FRA 7-6(3), 6-4 Melanie listening to advice from Cap'n Mary Joe Fernandez, driving a forehand, and after match point 4 #104 Pauline Parmentier FRA d #215 Christina McHale 6-4, 6-4 Christina about to swat a backhand, and Pauline driving one 5 d1 Liezel Huber & d16 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d d268 Alizé Cornet & d228 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA 6-2, 6-3 United States: #53 d309 Melanie Oudin #140 d16 Bethanie Mattek-Sands #215 d438 Christina McHale #NR d1 Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez France: #65 d268 Alizé Cornet #76 d57 Julie Coin #104 d181 Pauline Parmentier #137 d228 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro Captain: Nicolas Escude

Italy 4 at Ukraine 1   Palace of Sports "Lokomotiv" - Kharkiv, Ukraine indoor: hard (Latex-ite) ball: Wilson US Open Saturday, Feb 6 1130 hrs GMT ITF story 1 *#26 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #18 Francesca Schiavone ITA 6-1, 6-4 Francesca and Alona driving forehand and backhand 2 #12 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #33 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 7-5, 6-3 Flavia driving a backhand Sunday, Feb 7 1100 hrs GMT ITF story 3 #12 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #26 Alona Bondarenko UKR 7-5, 7-6(3) Flavia and Alona driving forehands 4 #18 Francesca Schiavone ITA d #33 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 Francesca about to connect with a forehand 5 d65 Sara Errani & d73 Roberta Vinci ITA v d61 Mariya Koryttseva & d354 Viktoria Kutuzova UKR 6-1, 6-3 Ukraine: #26 d43 Alona Bondarenko #33 d45 Kateryna Bondarenko #92 d354 Viktoria Kutuzova #111 d61 Mariya Koryttseva Captain: Vlodymyr Bogdanov Italy: #12 d28 Flavia Pennetta #18 d25 Francesca Schiavone #45 d65 Sara Errani #56 d73 Roberta Vinci Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

Germany 2 at Czech Republic 3   Brno Exhibition Center indoor: hard (Taraflex) Ball: Wilson Australian Open Saturday, Feb 6 1200hrs GMT ITF story 1 *#66 d29 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #46 d211 Lucie Safarova CZE 6-2, 6-2 Lucie's backhand drive, and Anna-Lena about to lightly tap a forehand 2 *#68 d386 Petra Kvitova CZE d #49 d84 Andrea Petkovic GER 6-4, 6-4 Petra driving a backhand, and Andrea following a forehand Sunday, Feb 7 1100hrs GMT ITF story 3 #64 d38 Lucie Hradecka d #49 d84 Andrea Petkovic GER 6-1, 7-6(5) Lucie and Andrea driving forehand and backhand, and Lucie after match point 4 #66 d29 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER v #68 d386 Petra Kvitova CZE 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Petra driving a backhand, and Anna-Lena running down a forehand 5 d23 Kveta Peschke & d38 Lucie Hradecka CZE d d29 Anna-Lena Groenefeld & d85 Tatjana Malek GER 6-1, 6-3 Lucie and Kveta after match point Czech Republic: #46 d211 Lucie Safarova #64 d38 Lucie Hradecka #68 d386 Petra Kvitova #NR d23 Kveta Peschke Captain: Petr Pala Germany: #49 d84 Andrea Petkovic #66 d29 Anna-Lena Groenefeld #70 d81 Kristina Barrois #79 d85 Tatjana Malek Captain: Barbara Rittner

World Group II & Zone Groups: 2010: World Group II, February 6: Adelaide: Samantha Stosur served while defeating Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez... Bratislava: Dominika Cibulkova celebrated after defeating Xinyun Han... Adelaide: Anabel Medina Garrigues drove a backhand while defeating Casey Dellacqua... 2010: World Group II, February 7: Bratislava: Dominika Cibulkova watched her forehand fly while defeating Shuai Zhang to clinch the win for Slovakia... Adelaide: Rennae Stubbs, Alicia Molik, Casey Dellacqua & Samantha Stosur celebrated after defeating Spain... 2010: Photos of Zone Group play, February 3-4: Kuala Lumpur, Feb 3: Kimiko Date Krumm driving a backhand while defeating Ayu-Fani Damayanti, and Ayumi Morita driving a backhand while defeating Lavinia Tananta... Feb 4: Ayumi after winning a point against Marina Erakovic Kuala Lumpur, Feb 4: Sania Mirza driving a backhand while defeating Stephanie Tan; Lisbon, Feb 4: Michelle Larcher de Brito and Patty Schnder driving forehands as Patty defeated Michelle... 2010: Zone Groups, February 6: Lisbon: Johanna Larsson & Sofia Arvidsson celebrated Swedens advance to the World Group II playoffs, Apr 24-25... Kuala Lumpur: Japan's Rika Fujiwara, Ayumi Morita, Kimiko Date-Krumm, & Yurika Sema also celebrated advancing to the WG II playoffs...

    (Feb 2, 2010) #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova has replaced #59 Ekaterina Makarova on the Russian Fed Cup team, strengthening the team enormously for their World Group first round tie against Serbia in Belgrade. ITF story

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.

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Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2010 WTA Schedule with links & photos

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