Clijsters, Henin await Fed Cup holders Russia

By Bill Barclay

LONDON (Reuters) – Russia could not have a harder start to
the defense of their Fed Cup title than this weekend’s tie in
Liege against a Belgian team featuring Kim Clijsters and
Justine Henin-Hardenne.

U.S. Open champion Clijsters, the world number two, and
French Open champion Henin-Hardenne, ranked four, are competing
together in the team event for the first time since July 2003.

Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova
are all unavailable, so in-form world number five Nadia Petrova
and number nine Elena Dementieva front the Russian challenge.

Clijsters has been in training for the tie since her
disappointing second-round defeat by American Jill Craybas in
her last outing in Miami on March 25.

“With Dementieva and Petrova the matches will be difficult,
so training has to be hard!” Clijsters said on her Web site.

She did, though, take time out earlier this month to
announce her engagement to American boyfriend Brian Lynch.

Petrova, returning to the Russian team for the first time
since 2003 and fresh from winning back-to-back titles at Amelia
Island and Charleston, has a poor 1-7 win-loss record against
Henin-Hardenne.

But she can take heart from the fact that the Belgian lost
her first match on clay for almost two years when she was
beaten by Swiss Patty Schnyder in the semi-finals at Charleston
last week.

“It seems she isn’t completely used to the surface and
that’s why she’s not showing her best game,” Petrova told
Russian newspaper Sport Express.

“Kim Clijsters hasn’t played a match on clay this year.
Hopefully we can exploit this and leave Belgium with a
victory.”

INTENSE MOMENTS

France, who have lost to Russia in each of the last two Fed
Cup finals, will expect world number one and Australian Open
champion Amelie Mauresmo to inspire them in Nancy against
Italy.

Mauresmo has been resting since losing to Russian Svetlana
Kuznetsova in the Miami semi-finals three weeks ago but now she
is raring to go.

“Meeting up with the team is really exciting because we
know we’re going to share some really intense moments,”
Mauresmo said on her Web site.

In the two other ties Germany host a weakened U.S. team in
Ettenheim while Austria visit Valencia to face Spain.

Craybas, the world number 39, leads a U.S. team that
includes Jamea Jackson, Shenay Perry and Vania King. Lindsay
Davenport and the Williams sisters Venus and Serena are all
nursing injuries.

All four ties will be played on clay.