(Liege, Belgium) Elena Dementieva of Russia defeated Belgian Kim Clijsters in the first Fed Cup rubber Walloon. Dementieva took the Russian team to a 1-0 lead after defeating Clijsters in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-3. Clijsters, does not like to play on clay so much, said that she just was not good enough today. The Russian took a 4-1 lead after both players could not hold on to their service games. Seven of the ten games played went against the server. The Russian came out as the better player in the first set and won 6-4.

In the second set Dementieva broke the Belgian service in the third game, she took a 5-2 lead after Clijsters played an erratic game, serving her seventh double fault of the match, and hitting two balls long and two into the net.

The Belgian from Bree, broke back on love, but she was just not in time with her comeback. Elena Dementieva showed she was he better player in the first Belgium Russia meeting of the day and again broke Clijsters and took the game and the match after holding three match points.

“Elena did play very well. She held on to a solid defence, and she kept the ball deep,” Clijsters said after the match. “She played a lot of forehand slices that made her win the match today. I tried to play more aggressive, and I had the right tactics today, but I just could not finish it the way I wanted to.”

“It’s always tough to play against Dementieva. I think she practised a lot on her service. Sometimes the second serve is faster than the first.

“Dementieva played the same as when I played her in Antwerp, but here today she was very consistent.

“I felt good on the court, but it was just not my day today. My backhand was a little rusty but I am working on that.

“Tomorrow is a new day and a new opponent. I am not going to worry about the match I lost today. Every point is counting in matches like these, I got to focus on that,” Belgians former No.1 Clijsters said about the match.

“It was never easy,” Dementieva said, “but it’s always great to play in front of a full house. I think it was harder for Kim today because she had not played in a while. It’s always harder when you are out of competition for some time.”

“I know my service, it’s getting better, and I practice hard, but there are always other things to improve as well,” the Muscovite said.

Having Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin Hardenne reunited in the fed cup team after three years again was a ultimately successful formula for the Belgian team this weekend.
They had a dangerously armed Russia against them in Luik, and Belgium lost the first battle but eventually won the war!

Kim was deeply disappointed after failing in her first Fed Cup task on Saturday against Elena Dementieva. She lost against the Russian in two sets; 6-4 and 6-3. “I didn’t play my best tennis and even though I kept on fighting, she was just too strong and had the right tactics. I tried to make the rallies short but I couldn’t finish them of!” Luckily there was Justine, who also had a bad client on Nadia Petrova but had the courage to be a little more patient and eventually stay alive and most concentrated the longest in a marathon 3 set match. Justine and Nadia were both suffering from cramps at the end of day one, but they could go to sleep in the knowledge at least that they both had one point on the scoreboard for their respective teams.

And then it was Kim’s turn to convince everyone that she had the power inside herself as well to earn a victory for her team. Kirilenko might have been a surprisingly easy opponent when you expect a petrova being totally in ‘the zone’ lately on the WTA tennis circuit to stand at the other side of the net against you, but Kim showed of that she was totally prepared for either one of them. Playing far more convincing and confident than the day before, she managed to give the 19 year old Russian a Fed Cup debut that nobody dreams of: a loss in two relatively easy sets for Kim, 6-1 and 6-4!

A more comfortable position for the Belgian team to be in from that moment on, because it provided them with another two chances to win the tie. While title defending Russia was forced to win the last singles match to still have their chance to go to the Fed Cup semi finals!
If Elena Dementieva would be just as convincing on Sunday as she was the day before there still was hope. But Justine had the tactics to beat the Russian well in mind! Elena started the match with a beautiful ace, and managed to cause Justine trouble in the beginning of that first set, but the Belgian didn’t like that scenario much and forced a break on Dementieva’s serve when leading 3-2. She held on to that break and served out the set shortly after that: 6-2. The second set was a demonstration of the current number 4 in the rankings; she didn’t allow Dementieva to win one game anymore and earned the tie victory for Belgium on a 6-0 humiliation for the Russian girl in the deciding set!

Kirsten Flipkens and Caroline Maes could immediately join Kim and Justine in having a “champagne shower”, the doubles match would be nothing more anymore than an unimportant detail!

The 43rd edition of the Federation Cup started last April 22, 2006 with defending champion Russia taking on Belgium in the first round.2005 runner-up France is up against Italy, while an under-rated team of the USA clobbered the German team in its home soil, and the Spanish armada made a headstart with a 2-0 score against Austria.

The Russian team is composed of Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko and Dinara Safina, Hoping to advance into the semifinals, the Belgian team is bannered by Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kirstan Flipkens, and Caroline Maes. As of this writing, Russia and Belgium are tied at 1-1.

Meanwhile, 2005 runner-up France represented by Amelie Mauresmo, Natalie Dechy, Emily Loit, and Virginne Razzano, leveled the score with the Italian team spearheaded by Francesca Schiavoni, Flavia Pennetta, Mara Santangelo and Roberta Vinci. The hometown favorite,the French team, will be hoping to sweep the match past the Italian team to advance into the next round.

The US team, headed by Jill Craybas, together with unknown players Jamea Jackson, Shelhay Perry and Vania King shrugged off hometown favorite Germany by leading the score with 2-0. The German team is composed of Anna Lena Groenefeld, Julia Schruff, Martina Muller and Jasmin Woeker.

In Spain, the Spanish team delighted its hometown crowd by sweeping the first two matches past Austria at 2-0. The Spanish armada is made up of Anabel Medina Garrigues,Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, and Virginia Ruano Pacual. While the Austian team is composed of Sybille Bammer, Yvonne Meusburger, Tamira Paszek, and Sandra Klemenschits.

Elena Dementieva has been nominated for the Russian squad who’s taking on Belgium later this month in Liege, Belgium, from 22 to 23 of April. Other players making up the team for Russian are number two from Russia Nadia Petrova, Maria Kirilenko, the 2005 Beijing winner and Dinara Safina, who together with Dementieva sealed last year’s win for Russia by winning the decisive doubles rubber over France. From the Belgium side the major threat will certainly come from former world number one’s Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Dementieva is known to be a fierce competitor especially when playing for her country. A major example of that was her huge effort last year over France when she beat both Mary pierce and Amelie Mauresmo before partnering Safina to take the decisive doubles rubber.

But in the last time these two teams met Elena wasn’t very happy in the outcome. Belgium leads the Head-to-head by 2-1, the last clash being in 2001 when Belgium claimed the title in the final over Russia. In that tie four of the eight players assigned for this year’s tie contested the final, these being none other than Petrova and Dementieva for Russia and Clijsters and Henin for Belgium. Henin beat Petrova 6-0; 6-3, while Clijsters beat Dementieva 6-0; 6-4.

However, recent matches, especially between Dementieva and the two Belgians stars, may turn the tables around. Dementieva beat Clijsters later last year in Filderstadt and forced the Belgian to three sets again in Antwerp this year before falling. Also, in the semis of Indian Wells Elena came back from the brink of defeat versus Henin to claim a hard-fought 2:6; 7:5; 7-5 victory in almost three hours.

Petrova’s statistics against Clijsters are not encouraging as well as in four previous meeting she only managed to take one set away from the Belgian. Against Henin-Hardenne Petrova has tasted victory only once in eight career meetings.

As for Kirilenko and Safina they have never beaten one of the two Belgian leaders with Kirilenko coming closer in a tight three setter last year in Berlin versus Henin-Hardenne.

For more information please visit www.fedcup.com.

The ITF has announced the team nominations for the 2006 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group and World Group II first round ties to be played on 22-23 April.

Live scoring for all World Group and World Group II ties will be available on the Fed Cup website throughout the weekend. Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with 89 nations entered in 2006. The event was established in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the ITF. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Fed Cup, while Wilson Sporting Goods (Official Ball) is an international partner.

WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND

FRANCE v ITALY
Venue: Nancy, France (clay – indoors)

France
Amelie Mauresmo
Nathalie Dechy
Emilie Loit
Virginie Razzano
Captain: Georges Goven

Italy
Francesca Schiavone
Flavia Pennetta
Mara Santangelo
Roberta Vinci
Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

SPAIN v AUSTRIA
Venue: Valencia, Spain (clay – outdoors)

Spain
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Lourdes Dominguez-Lino
Maria Sanchez Lorenzo
Virginia Ruano Pascual
Captain: Miguel Margets

Austria
Sybille Bammer
Yvonne Meusburger
Tamira Paszek
Sandra Klemenschits
Captain: Alfred Tesar

GERMANY v USA
Venue: Ettenheim, Germany (clay – outdoors)

Germany
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Julia Schruff
Martina Muller
Sandra Kloesel
Captain: Barbara Rittner

USA
Jill Craybas
Jamea Jackson
Shenay Perry
Vania King
Captain: Zina Garrison

BELGIUM v RUSSIA
Venue: Liege, Belgium (clay – indoors)

Belgium
Kim Clijsters
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Kirsten Flipkens
Caroline Maes
Captain: Carl Maes

Russia
Nadia Petrova
Elena Dementieva
Maria Kirilenko
Dinara Safina
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

WORLD GROUP II FIRST ROUND

JAPAN v SWITZERLAND
Venue: Tokyo, Japan (hard – indoors)

Japan
Ai Sugiyama
Aiko Nakamura
Akiko Morigami
Shinobu Asagoe
Captain: Minoru Ueda

Switzerland
Timea Bacsinszky
Stefania Boffa
Stefanie Vogele
Nicole Riner
Captain: Severin Luthi

CROATIA v ARGENTINA
Venue: Zagreb, Croatia (carpet – indoors)

Croatia
Karolina Sprem
Ivana Lisjak
Matea Mezak
Sanja Ancic
Captain: Goran Prpic

Argentina
Mariana Diaz-Oliva
Natalia Gussoni
Maria-Jose Argeri
Captain: Ricardo Rivera

THAILAND v CZECH REPUBLIC
Venue: Nonthaburi, Thailand (hard – outdoors)

Thailand
Suchanun Viratprasert
Napaporn Tongsalee
Montinee Tangphong
Nudnida Luangnam
Captain: Vittaya Samrej

Czech Republic
Nicole Vaidisova
Klara Koukalova
Iveta Benesova
Barbora Strycova
Captain: Tomas Petera

INDONESIA v CHINA, P.R.
Venue: Jakarta, Indonesia (hard – outdoors)

Indonesia
Angelique Widjaja
Romana Tedjakusuma
Ayu-Fani Damayanti
Septi Mende
Captain: Suzanna Anggarkusuma

China, P.R.
Na Li
Shuai Peng
Jie Zheng
Zi Yan
Captain: Hong Wei Jiang