Full-strength Belgium takes on the might of Russia - 網球

http://www.fedcup.com/news/newsarticle.asp?id=10818

Full-strength Belgium takes on the might of Russia

Not for nothing is Russia the two-time defending Fed Cup champion. It’s a
veritable golden era for Russian women’s tennis, and the roll of honour of
the premier team competition in women’s tennis doesn’t lie. Yet the massed
ranks of Russia’s power could prove insufficient to beat a full-strength
Belgian side in the pick of this weekend’s four Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World
Group first round ties.

With Elena Dementieva’s name drawn at the official draw ceremony at the
Sart-Tillman Country Hall, just outside Liege, the line-up for the weekend is:

Kim Clijsters (BEL) v Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) v Nadia Petrova (RUS)
Kim Clijsters (BEL) v Nadia Petrova (RUS)
Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) v Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Kirsten Flipkens/Caroline Maes (BEL) v Maria Kirilenko/Dinara Safina (RUS)

In theory, the Belgians are slight favourites with Kim Clijsters ranked No. 2
and Justine Henin-Hardenne No. 4. Henin-Hardenne last played Fed Cup in 2003,
and Clijsters has played a couple of ties since then, but this is only the
second time the two legends of Belgian tennis have appeared together since
the Belgians won the Fed Cup back in 2001.

“Things have changed so much for Justine and me,” says Clijsters when asked
about Belgium’s 2001 triumph. “We were really close as a team. We were a
few years younger and didn’t have the results we have now, so we were really
close, but we’ve recreated some of that atmosphere this week.”


Henin with one eye on Beijing

If that sounds a slightly half-hearted endorsement of the Belgian team
spirit, Henin-Hardenne is making no secret about the fact that part of her
motivation for returning to the Fed Cup fold is to enable her to defend her
gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, given that players have to represent
their country in two of the four years leading up to an Olympic tennis event
to be eligible. “What I lived through in Athens in 2004 was probably the
most unbelievable experience I had in my career,” the world No. 4 says, “so
I hope I will be ready for the next Olympics, but right now it’s 2006 and I’
m very proud to defend the colours of my country.”

In theory the Russians are a weakened side. Their top-ranked player Maria
Sharapova has yet to play Fed Cup (although she is talking about doing so,
perhaps with an eye on Beijing in 2008), their talismanic Anastasia Myskina
wants a year off the team competition after years of loyal service, and the
10th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova doesn’t want to play in Belgium after an
unpleasant experience here 17 months ago. But in Nadia Petrova, they have one
of the WTA Tour’s form players.

The 23-year-old Muscovite – whose childhood took her to Egypt, Poland and
the Netherlands – won the WTA tournament in Charleston at the weekend to
take her ranking to a career-high five. With Russia’s second player in
Liege, Elena Dementieva, at nine, Petrova has the responsibility of
spearheading Russia’s challenge. “I’m still feeling the same myself,” she
says, “but the team is treating me a little different. It’s going to be a
new experience, and I like new things.”


Petrova – Russia’s best hope?

With Clijsters a favourite to beat Dementieva in the opening singles, Russia’
s chances could well lie with Petrova being able to turn on the form she
showed in winning back-to-back titles in Amelia Island and Charleston when
she faces Henin-Hardenne in the second of the opening day’s matches.

Both sides are making little pretence that the nominated doubles teams will
remain the same if the tie is 2-2 on Sunday. Clijsters said she expected to
team up with Henin-Hardenne if the doubles was to prove decisive, and it’s
hard not to see at least one of Dementieva and Petrova coming in for Russia
as they have vastly more experience of high-level doubles than Safina and the
Fed Cup debutant Kirilenko.

“Everyone’s very excited,” said Clijsters, “hopefully we can live up to
expectations.” That goes for both sets of supporters and the neutrals in
what would be a tie worthy of a final.

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記得到網站上 下面有四大主將的interview檔可下載喔
哈 看來justine 跟kim為了這次比賽都拼了
雖然好像兩人目前狀況都不太好 但都有萬一必要 可是有一起打第五點雙打的決心
好開心喔～～看他們兩人一起耶 真想飛到比利時阿 哈

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