Fed Cup: Canada vs. Belgium

THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Canada will travel to Belgium for a Fed Cup World Group II playoff tie in April, the International Tennis Federation announced Tuesday.

Belgium and Canada have never met in Fed Cup play during its current head-to-head format. Choice of surface, venue and team nominations for the April 25-26 tie will be decided at a later date.

"We've had to wait almost two years to get back to this spot and we're going to work very hard to return to World Group status," said Canadian team captain Rene Collins. "We are looking forward to playing Belgium in April. Our team will be as prepared as possible in order to give ourselves the best chance to win."

Canada locked up a spot in the World Group II playoff by sweeping Paraguay last Saturday in Montreal.

That team consisted of Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., Toronto's Sharon Fichman, Valerie Tetreault of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que.

The squad from Belgium lost 4-1 to Slovakia in its World Group II tie this past weekend, setting up the match against Canada.

.The Canadians, who reached World Group II status in 2007, are currently ranked 17th in the world, while the Belgians finished second in the 2006 tournament and now sit at No. 8 on the ITF list.

Canada and Belgium have met twice in Fed Cup in the old tournament format. Belgium won 3-0 in 1981 when the competition was held in Japan and defeated Canada 2-1 in 1969 when the tournament was hosted by Greece.

The four winning nations will qualify for World Group II in 2010, while the four losers will start in Zonal Group I in 2010.

.In the other best-of-five World Group II matchups, Israel takes on Estonia, Japan meets Poland and Australia faces Switzerland.

In the playoffs to determine which teams will participate in the elite eight-nation World Group I next year, Spain will host the Serbs, which used Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic to beat Japan in World Group II. France hosts Slovakia, China hosts Germany and Argentina hosts Ukraine.

The United States, which has won 17 Fed Cup titles, visits the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup semifinals while defending champion Russia takes on Italy