Press releases

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – The Belarus vs Slovakia draw ceremony took place in Chizhovka Arena on 20 April. This match will be the 100th for Belarus in the Fed Cup, BelTA has learned.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus will take on Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia for the opening rubber of the Fed Cup World Group play-off tie on Saturday, 21 April. The second rubber will see Aryna Sabalenka face off against Viktoria Kuzmova.

Two more singles events will be played on Sunday, 22 April. Aryna Sabalenka will face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Viktoria Kuzmova will take to the court afterwards. Should the tie come down to a deciding doubles rubber, Lidziya Marozava and Vera Lapko have been nominated for Belarus, and they would face off against Jana Cepelova and Viktoria Kuzmova. According to the Fed Cup regulations, national teams’ captains Tatiana Poutchek and Matej Liptak may do substitutions.

This will be the second meeting between the two nations, and first since 2004 - when Slovakia won 4-0 in Bratislava at the same stage of the competition. Now Belarus is 4th on the WTA rankings, Slovakia is 11th.

This season Belarus lost to Germany (2-3) in the World Group quarterfinal while Slovakia was victorious in the World Group II first-round tie against Russia (4-1).

This weekend will see six more teams in the World Group play-offs: Romania vs Switzerland, Australia vs the Netherlands, Italy vs Belgium. The Fed Cup semifinals will take place on 21-22 April: Germany and the Czech Republic will play in Stuttgart, France and the USA will meet in Aix-en-Provence.

The Fed Cup final will be held in one of the finalists’ home turfs on 10-11 November. Last year Belarus lost to the USA (2-3) in Minsk.