The ITF has announced the official team nominations for the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group and World Group II first round ties, taking place on February 9-10. In addition, Zone Group events taking place the week of February 4 are Europe/Africa Zone Group I in Eilat, Israel; Americas Zone Group I in Medellin, Colombia; and Asia/Oceania Zone Groups I and II in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with 97 nations entered in 2013. The event is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2013 in the ITF’s centenary year. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Fed Cup. Adecco (Official HR Sponsor) and Bosco Sport (Official Clothing Sponsor) are international sponsors, and Wilson Sporting Goods (Official Ball) is an international partner. Follow all the action on www.fedcup.com, www.fedcup.com/es, www.twitter.com/fedcup and www.facebook.com/FedCup.
WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND
CZECH REPUBLIC v AUSTRALIA
Venue: Cez Arena, Ostrava, CZE (hard – indoors)
Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Lucie Hradecka, Andrea Hlavackova
Captain: Petr Pala
Australia: Samantha Stosur, Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova, Ashleigh Barty
Captain: Alicia Molik
ITALY v USA
Venue: 105 Stadium, Rimini, ITA (clay – indoors)
Italy: Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci, Karin Knapp, Nastassja Burnett
Captain: Corrado Barazzutti
USA: Sloane Stephens, Varvara Lepchenko, Jamie Hampton, Liezel Huber
Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez
RUSSIA v JAPAN
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Moscow, RUS (hard – indoors)
Russia: Maria Kirilenko, Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Elena Vesnina
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev
Japan: Ayumi Morita, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Misaki Doi, Kurumi Nara
Captain: Takeshi Murakami
SERBIA v SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Venue: Hala "CAIR", Nis, SRB (hard – indoors)
Serbia: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Bojana Jovanovski, Vesna Dolonc
Captain: Dejan Vranes
Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jana Cepelova
Captain: Matej Liptak
The rest of the team nominations are available on the Fed Cup website.