Zvonareva Out of Russian Fed Cup; American Glatch Makes Debut

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.