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Team USA has reloaded aiming for a Fed Cup final return.

The reigning Fed Cup champion will field a formidable team for its April 21st-22nd Fed Cup semifinal against host France on the red clay of Arena Du Pays D'Aix in Aix-en-Provence, France.

More: Thiem Set For Monte-Carlo Return

Reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens, Fed Cup hero CoCo Vandeweghe, 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys and former world No. 1 doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands were named to the American squad by U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi today.




The 26-year-old Vandeweghe has won seven straight Fed Cup matches, including accounting for all three points in Team USA's 3-2 victory over Belarus in the 2017 Fed Cup final.

The ninth-ranked Stephens is fresh off winning her sixth career title at the Miami Open where she defeated four Grand Slam champions in succession: Garbiñe Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and reigning Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko in the final. 

French captain Yannick Noah selected 19th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic, Pauline Parmentier and Amandine Hesse to his squad.

It is the same French trio that beat Belgium, 3-2, in the Fed Cup opener in February. Mladenovic accounted for all three points in that triumph, sweeping Kirsten Flipkens and Elise Mertens in singles before partnering Hesse to win the decisive doubles.




The Americans hold a dominant 11-2 record over the French, but captain Noah's team won their last meeting 3-2 in the World Group playoffs in St Louis in 2014, with Caroline Garcia winning all three of the rubbers she contested.

The United States is playing to reach back-to-back Fed Cup finals for the first time since runner-up results in 2009-2010.

The winner of the USA vs. France semifinal will face either the Czech Republic or Germany in the November 10-11th Fed Cup final.

Photo credit: Fed Cup Facebook

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