Britain name Fed Cup squad
Date published :
21 Dec 2009 - 13:24:00
GREAT Britain have named four top 100 players in their Fed Cup team for the Europe/Africa Group 1 round-robin event in February.
The British squad came within a whisker of reaching World Group 2 for
the first time since 1993 last season, winning their preliminary group
with ease before a 2-1 defeat to Poland in the final.
But after a season of swift progress from the British players, captain
Nigel Sears will take three singles players and one doubles player, all
ranked in the top 100 in the world, to Portugal in February.
The team will consist of Elena Baltacha (world number 84), Katie
O'Brien (88), Anne Keothavong (100) as well as doubles specialist Sarah
Borwell (84) and Sears is already talking up his team's chances. "We're going to Lisbon in February with our strongest team and I feel good about our chances of promotion," said Sears. "We came so close last year but I fully understand how tough this group is to get out of. "The team is a reflection of the progress that the girls have made again this year."
British number three Anne Keothavong was the most successful of the
four last season, reaching a career high ranking of 48 in February and
making three tour semi-finals. A knee injury cut the Londoner's season short and having gone under the
knife in August, the race is on for Keothavong to be fit for the new
season.
But the 26-year old insists she's on the way back to full fitness and
is targeting her return to court with the British team in Portugal. "The Fed Cup is such an important competition for me and to make my
comeback there will be tough but hopefully we can perform well and move
GB back into the World Group," said Keothavong. "My recovery is going really well. I'm no longer reliant on my knee
brace and I don't feel scared or that I have to hold back any more."
