THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL -- Overconfidence could be Canada's main enemy in Fed Cup women's tennis play this week at Uniprix Stadium. The four-member Canadian team is playing at home, on its favourite surface -- hardcourts -- and has by far the top-ranked player in the six-country event in 32nd-ranked Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que. "It's probably putting pressure on them, but they're the favourites to finish first," Tennis Canada vice-president Eugene Lapierre said Tuesday. "At least on paper, no one comes close. "And with the draw, we're not in a strong group. There shouldn't be a scare until the final." The draw for the BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group I event put Canada at the head of a three-team group with Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, neither of which has a singles player ranked by the WTA. The second group has Colombia seeded first with Brazil and Paraguay. Venezuela withdrew for unknown reasons and risks automatic relegation to a lower level next year. Fed Cup events are being held around the world this week, including four meetings at the highest level, World Group I, with Russia-China, France-Italy, U.S.-Argentina and Czech Republic-Spain. Canada and Colombia have byes through the first day of play on Wednesday night and have their first matches on Thursday night. The first-place team from each group meets in the final on Saturday afternoon, with the winner advancing to the playoffs in April for World Group II (teams ranked 9-16 in the world). Should Canada win this week, it would have to win in the playoffs just to advance to World Group II for 2010. There, it would need to win again to get into World Group I, where its best results ever were reaching the quarter-finals in 1964, 1967, 1987 and 1988. Canada sends out Wozniak, who downed Serena Williams to win a Tier-2 tournament at Stanford in 2008, as well as 118th ranked Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., 232nd ranked Sharon Fichman of Toronto and 370th ranked Valerie Tetreault of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. All four train regularly on the indoor courts that will be used for the Fed Cup. "Alex this year kind of made a breakthrough," said team captain Rene Collins, who was known as Rene Simpson in her playing days. "She's by far the highest ranked player at this event and it certainly gives us some confidence the other teams don't have." The next-highest ranked is Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay at No. 95, while Colombia has Marianna Duque Marino at 104th and Catalina Castano at 167th. The Colombians won the event at home last February on clay courts, including a win over Canada. "We want to get back to the World Group," said Wozniak. "We lost to Colombia in February, but if we face them again on Saturday, we want to get our little revenge. "But we have to stay focused because the other teams are here to win. Whoever we face, we have to be ready." Wozniak is just back from the Australian Open in Melbourne, where she was beaten in the first round by Sabine Lisicki after losing practice time while treating a left hamstring injury. But she made it to the quarter-finals in mixed doubles with Daniel Nestor of Toronto, losing to eventual champions Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India. "We played really good together and I hope to play with him in future," added Wozniak. "We beat his ex-partner Mark Knowles (and Zi Yan), and they were second seeds." Wozniak's big year, which included reaching the third round of the French Open, has put her in heady company on tour and she hopes to keep moving up the rankings. "Now I'm in the highest level, competing against the top players in the tournament, so I need to really keep free from injuries and try to get into the top 20, and improve my doubles," she said. "It's not easy to start the year with an injury, but I feel good now." The centre court only holds 700 spectators, which is not unusual for Fed Cup group play, or even for less important men's Davis Cup ties. But it should be filled with a decidedly pro-Canada crowd. "We're lucky to play here in Montreal," said Dubois. "We have a great team and it's nice to play in front of family and friends." For their Latin American visitors, landing in snow covered Montreal was an experience in itself. "It's nice for us," said Castano. "It's the first time we see a lot of snow. "We don't have seasons in Colombia, so it's interesting for us. We play indoors on tour, but we never had snow." Each meeting has two three-set singles matches and a three-set doubles match. Collins said it has not yet been decided which players will play on Thursday.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rising Wozniak leads Team Canada
THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL -- Overconfidence could be Canada's main enemy in Fed Cup women's tennis play this week at Uniprix Stadium. The four-member Canadian team is playing at home, on its favourite surface -- hardcourts -- and has by far the top-ranked player in the six-country event in 32nd-ranked Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que. "It's probably putting pressure on them, but they're the favourites to finish first," Tennis Canada vice-president Eugene Lapierre said Tuesday. "At least on paper, no one comes close. "And with the draw, we're not in a strong group. There shouldn't be a scare until the final." The draw for the BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group I event put Canada at the head of a three-team group with Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, neither of which has a singles player ranked by the WTA. The second group has Colombia seeded first with Brazil and Paraguay. Venezuela withdrew for unknown reasons and risks automatic relegation to a lower level next year. Fed Cup events are being held around the world this week, including four meetings at the highest level, World Group I, with Russia-China, France-Italy, U.S.-Argentina and Czech Republic-Spain. Canada and Colombia have byes through the first day of play on Wednesday night and have their first matches on Thursday night. The first-place team from each group meets in the final on Saturday afternoon, with the winner advancing to the playoffs in April for World Group II (teams ranked 9-16 in the world). Should Canada win this week, it would have to win in the playoffs just to advance to World Group II for 2010. There, it would need to win again to get into World Group I, where its best results ever were reaching the quarter-finals in 1964, 1967, 1987 and 1988. Canada sends out Wozniak, who downed Serena Williams to win a Tier-2 tournament at Stanford in 2008, as well as 118th ranked Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., 232nd ranked Sharon Fichman of Toronto and 370th ranked Valerie Tetreault of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. All four train regularly on the indoor courts that will be used for the Fed Cup. "Alex this year kind of made a breakthrough," said team captain Rene Collins, who was known as Rene Simpson in her playing days. "She's by far the highest ranked player at this event and it certainly gives us some confidence the other teams don't have." The next-highest ranked is Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay at No. 95, while Colombia has Marianna Duque Marino at 104th and Catalina Castano at 167th. The Colombians won the event at home last February on clay courts, including a win over Canada. "We want to get back to the World Group," said Wozniak. "We lost to Colombia in February, but if we face them again on Saturday, we want to get our little revenge. "But we have to stay focused because the other teams are here to win. Whoever we face, we have to be ready." Wozniak is just back from the Australian Open in Melbourne, where she was beaten in the first round by Sabine Lisicki after losing practice time while treating a left hamstring injury. But she made it to the quarter-finals in mixed doubles with Daniel Nestor of Toronto, losing to eventual champions Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India. "We played really good together and I hope to play with him in future," added Wozniak. "We beat his ex-partner Mark Knowles (and Zi Yan), and they were second seeds." Wozniak's big year, which included reaching the third round of the French Open, has put her in heady company on tour and she hopes to keep moving up the rankings. "Now I'm in the highest level, competing against the top players in the tournament, so I need to really keep free from injuries and try to get into the top 20, and improve my doubles," she said. "It's not easy to start the year with an injury, but I feel good now." The centre court only holds 700 spectators, which is not unusual for Fed Cup group play, or even for less important men's Davis Cup ties. But it should be filled with a decidedly pro-Canada crowd. "We're lucky to play here in Montreal," said Dubois. "We have a great team and it's nice to play in front of family and friends." For their Latin American visitors, landing in snow covered Montreal was an experience in itself. "It's nice for us," said Castano. "It's the first time we see a lot of snow. "We don't have seasons in Colombia, so it's interesting for us. We play indoors on tour, but we never had snow." Each meeting has two three-set singles matches and a three-set doubles match. Collins said it has not yet been decided which players will play on Thursday.
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