Defending champion Czech Republic is in charge early in Fed Cup play.

A preview of this weekend’s Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Israel had clinched by Saturday after Harel Levy defeated Igor Andreev and Dudi Sela decimated Mikhail Youzhny in the singles, and the standout doubles tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram edged Igor Kunitsyn and former No. 1 Marat Safin in five in Safin’s final Davis Cup appearance.

Israel clinched the tie in the Saturday doubles when Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram stopped a comeback from former No. 1 Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4.

Apparently not expected enough. Although the Russian squad had a better part of a week to train in the conditions, Kuznetsova also complained about the court. Blowing away Schiavone 6-1 in the first, Kuznetsova nonetheless blamed the court and alternating sunny/shady weather after letting the Italian back in the match before losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Nine of the current Top 10 on the WTA rankings are American, Russian or Serb players.

“It’s not really you. You’re basically trying to make a facade for the people. You’re never gonna please everybody, anyway. Somebody’s gonna say, ‘This guy’s a dick.’ Somebody’s gonna say, ‘He’s a nice guy.’ If they catch you at a bad time and you snap and say something bad, you’re not being polite, they form an opinion of you basically being an ass. When you’re in a happy mood, you’re the greatest guy out there. It’s kind of a difficult time to be in the public eye because everything you do is under a microscope.”