6 Feb 2020, 14:01

Kuznetsova out of Russia’s Fed Cup tie vs. Romania

The tie will be held in Romania’s Cluj-Napoca on February 7-8

Svetlana Kuznetsova AP Photo/John Minchillo

Svetlana Kuznetsova

© AP Photo/John Minchillo

TASS, February 6. Russian tennis player Anna Blinkova has been called to replace two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the upcoming Fed Cup qualifying tie against Romania, the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) press service reports.

"Svetlana Kuznetsova will not help out the team in the tie against Romanians," the statement says. "She had an elbow injury after competing at the Australian Open, the rehabilitation process has not been completed yet." In view of this, Anna Blinkova arrived to replace her.

The tie will be held in Romania’s Cluj-Napoca on February 7-8.

Earlier reports revealed that 2020 Australian Open quarterfinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will not be able to represent Russia as well. The Russian team now includes Ekaterina Alexandrova (world No. 28), Veronika Kudermetova (No. 38), Anna Blinkova (No. 54) and Anna Kalinskaya (No. 109). Retired tennis player Igor Andreev is the team’s captain.

Romania will be represented by Ana Bogdan (No. 90), Irina Bara (No. 160), Elena-Gabriela Ruse (No. 166), Jaqueline Adina Cristian (No. 197) and Ioana Raluca Olaru (doubles world No. 47).

Kuznetsova is ranked 49th in the world in the WTA rankings and has won 18 WTA titles in her career. Kuznetsova won two Grand Slam tournaments - the 2004 US Open and the 2009 French Open.

The winner of the Russia-Romania tie will advance to the Fed Cup Finals in Budapest.

The prestigious Fed Cup competition has been completely overhauled and will be held in a new format starting from 2020. The qualifying round will see 16 national teams battling it out for the right to break through to the Fed Cup Finals held in Budapest (April 14-19). These eight victorious teams will be joined by last year’s finalists (Australia and France), Hungary as the host country and the Czech Republic that was awarded a wildcard.

The finals will feature 12 teams split into four groups of three. Group winners qualify for the semifinals, the finalists will secure their tickets to the next year’s edition. The competition will be held throughout one week, ties will feature two singles and one doubles matches.

Russia has lifted the Fed Cup trophy four times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008) and contested the final seven more times. The last time the Russian team reached the Fed Cup final was in 2015 when they lost to the Czech Republic.

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