World No. 5-ranked
Vera Zvonareva, who won the
Indian Wells title last month, and No. 8
Svetlana Kuznetsova were named to represent Russia in singles for the Fed Cup semifinals at Italy.
Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev announced his squad on Wednesday, also naming Top 10er
Nadia Petrova, the slumping
Anna Chakvetadze, along with Alisa Kleibanova,
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Yekaterins Makarova.
Russia is the defending Fed Cup champion, and will face Italy on April 15-16 in Nova Yardinia. In the other semifinal, the U.S. will travel to Brno to face the Czech Republic, with U.S. captain Mary Jo Fernandez yet to announce her squad.
Maria Sharapova, yet to play a singles match in 2009 after rotator cuff surgery, was left off the Russian squad. Sharapova played doubles-only in a first-round loss at Indian Wells, and is expected to make her singles debut for 2009 in
Rome during the claycourt season.
