With its deep bench, Russia could likely field 2-3 teams in the World Group for the Fed Cup competition.
It's a good thing too as
Dinara Safina and
Maria Sharapova bowed out of the competition with injury, and now
Vera Zvonareva is out of this weekend's semifinal tie against Italy with an ankle ligament injury.
Taking Zvonareva's place in singles will be No. 22-ranked
Anna Chakvetadze.
On Saturday Chakvetadze will open against Italy's
Flavia Pennetta, and Italy's
Francesca Schiavone will face
Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The Czech Republic host the United States in the other Fed Cup semifinal this weekend. Czech
Petra Kvitova faces American
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Czech
Iveta Benesova faces U.S. debut rookie
Alexa Glatch.
