WTA - Fed Cup Preview

Petra Kvitova, the Czech Republic’s top player, is backing her team to make the final of the Fed Cup following the withdrawal of Belgium’s Kim Clijsters from the countries’ semifinal clash this weekend.

Clijsters, who powered the Belgians to a quarterfinal win over the United States, was already struggling somewhat with wrist and shoulder injuries, but these were compounded when the 27-year-old badly sprained an ankle while attending a wedding last weekend.

With the U.S. Open champion sidelined, Belgium, which suffered greatly when Justine Henin retired at the start of the season, will now be led by the on-form world No.23 Yanina Wickmayer.

However, world No.18 Kvitova, while not wanting “to say I’m glad that Kim’s not playing”, does believe that “without her our chances (to advance) are bigger”.

The Czechs are now firm favorites as they possess an additional three top 65 players, whereas the second best Belgian is Kirsten Flipkens, who is only ranked at 106.

But Sabine Appelmans, the Belgian captain, still believes her team can make the final by recording victory at the 6000-capacity Spiroudome in Charleroi.

The 38-year-old says that, even with Clijsters missing, making the final “remains our ambition”, but did temper that by pointing out that the result will come down to “form on the day”.

The Czech team has not had its troubles to seek, too, with Lucie Safarova out after injuring her left thigh during training.

Petr Pala, the team captain, revealed that Safarova, who was replaced by Lucie Hradecka, won’t “fully recover in time to play on Saturday”.

Two singles matches will be played on Saturday, while the reverse singles and a potential doubles clash are scheduled for Sunday. The winner faces Italy or Russia in a November final.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has included a couple of teenagers in its team for the crucial battle in Germany to avoid relegation from the Fed Cup World Group this weekend.

Many tennis commentators have questioned whether 18-year-old Christina McHale and Melanie Oudin, 19, will be able to cope with the stress of playing in the opening singles matches in Stuttgart on Saturday.

However, team captain Mary Joe Fernandez believes that the United States players “always feel pressure playing Fed Cup”, suggesting that representing any country adds extra tension to every match.

Fernandez continued that she realizes it will be a tough match on Porsche Arena’s indoor clay courts, but that the U.S. “play every match and do our best”, before adding that she is hopeful that the team can “come out with three victories”.

With Bethanie Mattek-Sands out injured and Venus Williams expected to attend but not fit enough to play following a hip injury, Vania King and Liezel Huber have come into the team.

But Barbara Rittner, Germany’s captain, is not taking anything for granted, even if the United States team – runner-up last year – is far from experienced.

Rittner believes that the foursome that play “are still very dangerous”, while warning that the teenagers “are two aspiring players that have nothing to lose”.