Fed Cup Preview
The Quarterfinals of World Group I are taking place around the globe this coming weekend. I figured I would share my thoughts on what might take place. First and foremost we have the US vs. Belgium in Delray Beach. Sounds like it could be a finals matchup, however with both Henin and Clisters not participating, it leaves Belgium with un-household names Kristen Flipkens and Caroline Maes playing singles. If the Williams sisters were not playing, I would be tempted to give Belgium a fighting chance, but unfortunately for the Belgians both Serena and Venus will play, and most likely give the United States a 5-0 victory. The US will be looking to avenge its lone loss to Belgium (the US leads the alltime series 4-1) that occurred in the Semi’s last year when Clisters played, and the Williams sisters did not.
The winner of the US/Belgium match will take on either Russia or Spain. This matchup should also be somewhat one-sided. No longer does Spain boast the Aranxta’s and Conchita’s of the world. Instead, Anabel Medina Garrigues (ranked 29th) and Lourdes Dominguez-Lino (66th) will have to go up against Russian top 10′ers Kuznetzova and Petrova. The other two semifinal spots will be decided between France/Japan and Italy/China. France and Italy are the slight favorites with Golovin and Schiavone leading their teams, respectively. However, don’t expect Japan (led by Ai Sugiyama) or China (Shaui Peng) to simply roll over. The US vs. Belgium match will be shown live both Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm EST on the Tennis Channel.
Here are some interesting tennis links for today:
Interesting article from ESPN.com that is quite similar to my thoughts on Davis/Fed Cups.
I guess the players are not too happy about the possible downgrade of Monte Carlo.
Some good news for tennis fans who have DirecTV.