Spanish squad fired up to take on the Russians in the Fed Cup quarter-final tie – Tennis News
Russian squad is going head-to-head against the Team Spain on 4th and 5th of February in the quarter-finals of the Federation Cup contested at Olimpiisky Sports Centre in Moscow.
The Russians, led by the third ranked Maria Sharapova, are favourites to win the contest but the Spanish side is not at all demoralized looking at the superiority of their rivals.
Team Russia consists of the three-time Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova, the Australian Open 2012 quarter-finalist, Ekaterina Makarova, doubles champion of the Australians Open 2012, Svetlana Kuznetsova and 29thranked,
Nadia Petrova.
Spanish squad is not as belligerent as their opponents are but is capable of pulling up few upsets in the contest. The team is lead by Maria Martinez Sanchez and consist of 55th ranked, Carla Suarez
Navarro, Arantxa Parra-Santonja and Nuria Llagostera Vives. Vives was interviewed about the pressure they are feeling at the moment and she stated, “We are looking forward to every match. I hope to play in the doubles on Sunday; we have to wait for it. And
yes, we are also looking for revenge. I think we didn’t play a very good match [in 2008], so we hope to do better here. We will see.”
Spain has a new Fed Cup team captain as well, Sanchez Vicario, who will be marshalling her troops in their first battle during her regime. In her career, she won four major Grand Slam title and was the leader of the Spanish
team in the five back-to-back Fed Cup victories in the 90’s.
Sharapova is also looking to continue her good run of form in this tournament as well and stated, “The Spanish team is strong but we’re the favourites for the match regardless. Anything can happen in the Fed Cup. A year ago
I didn’t play very well in the first round of our match with the French, and Svetlana Kuznetsova also lost on the first day.”
It is going to be a very good contest with the Russian team likely to win the contest provided the superior ranking and finer game play. Three of the four players from the Russian side made it to the advanced rounds of this
year’s Australian Open in different categories, depicting their cracking form. An upset in the first match on the 4thof February can make the things much more interesting than expected but the strong Russian squad remains the hot favourite for an
emphatic victory over the Spaniards.