Fed Cup News

LONDON (AP) _ The two highest-ranked players in the first round of the Fed Cup will play in the opening singles matches for Russia on Saturday. Ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova and fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova were picked Friday to lead a deep Russian team against Spain on clay at the Luzhniki Indoor arena. Petrova will open against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kuznetsova, a former U.S. Open champion, will face Lourdes Dominguez-Lino. Maria ...

Maria Sharapova will play for Russia against Spain in the first round of next year's Fed Cup. The U.S. Open champion said on her Web site that she would be available for the matchup in Moscow on April 21-22. Sharapova, who also won the 2004 Wimbledon title, has never played for Russia in the international competition. ``I'm really excited to make my first appearance in Fed Cup for my country ...

Italy won its first Fed Cup title Sunday, beating Belgium 3-2 after an ailing Justine Henin-Hardenne retired with an injury during the deciding doubles match. The French Open champion won both her singles matches despite a knee injury, but her leg was too weak to complete the doubles. The Italian duo of Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci led the Belgian lineup of Henin-Hardenne and Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-2, 2-0 when ...

Italy won its first Fed Cup title Sunday, beating Belgium 3-2 after Justine Henin-Hardenne retired with an injury during the deciding doubles match. The French Open champion won both her singles matches despite a knee injury, but her leg was too weak to complete the doubles. The Italian duo of Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci led the Belgian lineup of Henin-Hardenne and Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-2, 2-0 when Henin-Hardenne was ...

Mara Santangelo beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 Sunday to pull Italy even with Belgium 2-2 in the Fed Cup final. The deciding doubles match was scheduled for later Sunday. Santangelo, ranked 33rd in the world and a late replacement for Flavia Pennetta, had to come from behind to beat a player ranked 65 places below her. Flipkens replaced the injured Kim Clijsters, the world's fourth-ranked player. Earlier, a ...

Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-5 Sunday to put Belgium within one victory of the Fed Cup title. Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, gave Belgium a 2-1 lead in the final of the top team competition in women's tennis. In a last-minute change, Italy replaced Flavia Pennetta, who has an injured wrist, with No. 33-ranked Mara Santangelo to face No. 98 Kirsten Flipkens in the final singles ...

Francesca Schiavone beat inexperienced Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-3 Saturday to give Italy a 1-0 lead over Belgium in the Fed Cup final. French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne played 20th-ranked Flavia Pennetta in the second match of this best-of-five series at the Spiroudome. Reverse singles and doubles are Sunday. Belgium had been a big favourite to win the top team competition in women's tennis until Kim Clijsters injured her wrist last month and withdrew. That put considerable pressure on ...

Justine Henin-Hardenne played in every Grand Slam championship match this year. Now she's in the Fed Cup final, although hardly in the bloom of health. The No. 2 ranked Belgian won the French Open and was runner-up at Wimbledon and the Australian and U.S. Opens. This weekend she will lead her country against Italy in the elite team event of women's tennis. With No. 4-ranked Kim Clijsters sidelined because of ...

The Fed Cup final likely will be decided by a player who currently has a career-high ranking of 98 and has never won a WTA Tour event. Kirsten Flipkens will be the key to Belgium's squad after Kim Clijsters pulled out injured last month. With No. 2-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne expected to win both her singles matches Saturday and Sunday on the indoor hard court at the 6,000-capacity Spiroudome, Flipkens will ...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) _ Indonesia pulled out of a planned Fed Cup tennis match in Israel to protest that country's actions in the Gaza Strip, a foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday. ``We are witnessing a military invasion by Israel and the arrest of scores of Palestinian officials,'' Desra Percaya said. ``It is now impossible to play there.'' Moshe Haviv, the director of the Israeli Tennis Federation, said Indonesia would be ...