The Sports Palace Megasport in Moscow has been nominated as the venue for the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group semifinal tie between Russia and Serbia on 21-22 April.
The Russian Tennis Federation has also chosen for the tie to be played on clay, which marks the first occasion in six home ties that a surface other than hard court has been selected.
The Muscovite venue has played host to a number of different sports since it was completed in 2006 including Russia’s whitewash of Italy in the Fed Cup semifinal last year. Other notable events to have taken place in the arena include the 2007 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships and the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships.
Russia and Serbia met for the only time in Belgrade, in 2010, when a thrilling tie went right down to the final doubles rubber. The Russians came out on top having trailed 2-1. The two teams also met twice before becoming independent nations with USSR holding a 2-0 record over Yugoslavia.
Serbia are playing at this stage of the competition for the first time in their history thanks to a hard fought win away at Belgium in the first round when Bojana Jovanovski proved their heroine. Russia, meanwhile, are appearing in the semifinals for a sixth consecutive year but have not managed to win the title since 2008.