Fed Cup First Round Preview

Italy v Australia

H2H: 0-5

Venue: Domain Tennis Centre, Hobart, Australia

Italy (defending champions): Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci, Corrado Barrazzutti (captain)

Australia: Samantha Stosur, Jarmila Groth, Anastasia Rodionova, Rennae Stubbs, David Taylor (captain)

Saturday OOP: Groth v Schiavone, Pennetta v Stosur

Russia v France

H2H: 5-3

Venue: Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Russia: Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Dinara Safina, Shamil Tarpischev (captain)

France: Alize Cornet, Virginie Razzano, Pauline Parmentier, Julie Coin, Nicolas Escude (captain) 

Saturday OOP: Kuznetsova v Cornet, Sharapova v Razzano

Slovak Republic v Czech Republic

H2H: 0-3

Venue: Sibamac Arena, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Slovak Republic: Daniela Hantuchova, Dominika Cibulkova, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jana Cepelova, Matej Liptak (captain)

Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Barbora Zahlalova Strycova, Kveta Peschke, Petr Pala (captain)

Saturday OOP: Hantuchova v Safarova, Cibulkova v Kvitova

Belgium v USA

H2H: 1-5

Venue: Sportpalais Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Belgium: Kim Clijsters, Yanina Wickmayer, Kirsten Flipkens, An-Sophie Mestach, Sabine Appelmans (captain)

U.S.A: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Vania King, Liezel Huber, Mary Joe Fernandez (captain)

Saturday OOP: Wickmayer v Mattek-Sands, Clijsters v Oudin

It’s going to be a good weekend …

WTA Week Ahead: Portoroz, Bad Gastein

Portoroz

Draw here.

No question who should win this tournament, as Dinara Safina is the top seed by quite some way. Really, there’s no-one who should trouble her in her half unless Kaia Kanepi unexpectedly finds some form again. Tathiana Garbin, who reached the semis in Palermo this week, is hanging around in her quarter, but really, yeah, I’m reaching. The bottom half of the draw is anchored by Lucie Safarova and Anabel Medina Garrigues. Safarova has token Tim Katie O’Brien in the first round, so look for the Czech in the quarters at least. Medina Garrigues has defending champion Sara Errani in her quarter, but Errani might well be knackered out from her exploits in Palermo last week.

I predict Safina vs. Medina Garrigues in the final, at which point this might get interesting.

Bad Gastein

Draw here.

All I can say about this is that it’s probably not a good sign when Alize Cornet is the top seed.