 Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 06 Feb 2009 |
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| 06 Feb 2009 - Belgrade Arena, Belgrade - Barry Millns | |
| Ivanovic to start Serbia’s first home tie |
Ana Ivanovic will have the honour of starting for her country when Serbia stages its first ever home tie in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. The reigning French Open champion and former world No.1 will face Japan’s leading player Ai Sugiyama in the opening singles rubber of their World Group II encounter in the Belgrade Arena, watched by an expected record crowd of nearly 20,000 spectators.
Having helped Serbia come this far in the competition for the first time Ivanovic is delighted to be opening her country’s first ever meeting with Japan: “I’m very excited about it. We just try to prepare the best we can and I think the atmosphere is going to be amazing so obviously there is a little bit of nerves kicking in already so I hope I can get a good night of sleep and be ready for tomorrow.”
Ivanovic out of form?
Although Ivanovic easily won her only previous encounter with Sugiyama in Tokyo three years ago, her form has dipped over the past few months since she triumphed last June at Roland Garros. Injuries and illness have certainly contributed to that and a fortnight ago she lost in the third round of the Australian Open.
But the 21 year-old Serb, currently ranked 8th in the world, has won seven of the eight singles rubbers she has played in Fed Cup and Sugiyama, playing for the 12th year in the international team competition, is expecting another tough contest with Ivanovic: “Even though she is not in the greatest form ever she’s still one of the top players right now and she’s always tough to play against and especially we are in Serbia and with a lot of support it’s going to be very tough for me. But I have a team behind me and it’s going to be a very good match, hopefully.”
In Saturday’s second singles rubber Serbia’s No.1 Jelena Jankovic will take on the teenage Japanese No.2, Ayumi Morita, for the first time. Although Jankovic also failed to reach the latter stages of the Australian Open, the world No.3 has won 13 of her past 14 singles matches in Fed Cup and is also relishing the opportunity of performing at home for the first time: “I am very excited. We have never played at home in front of our friends and family and the crowd and it’s an amazing feeling for me.”
"Very tough match" - Morita
Morita, who made her Fed Cup debut in 2007, knows she has a daunting weekend ahead of her: “This is first time to play Jankovic and Ivanovic so I am very happy to play against them. So it’s going to be a very, very tough match but I just try to do my best.”
Sunday’s reverse singles will start with Jankovic against Sugiyama, the pair due to meet for the fourth time. Jankovic has won all of their previous matches in straight sets, including a third round encounter last month in Melbourne. Ivanovic will then take on Morita, before the respective team-mates combine for the doubles fifth rubber.
The Serbs will undoubtedly start as favourites and their only real concern right now is the health of 17 year-old team member Bojana Jovanovski, who missed the draw due to a virus. Having said that team captain Dejan Vranes insists that nothing will be taken for granted in Serbia’s bid to qualify for the World Group I playoffs in April: “This is just first step. It’s new experience but I think we have very good team for the future and I think we can expect good result in the future.”
The full draw for the weekend is as follows:
Saturday
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v Ayumi Morita (JPN)
Sunday
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v Ayumi Morita (JPN)
Ana Ivanovic / Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v Ai Sugiyama / Ayumi Morita (JPN)
Related Links on other websites
> Information in Japanese - JTA
Related Links on Fedcup.com
> Tie Information
Related audio
 Interview with Ana Ivanovic (SRB) - draw day
Interview with Jelena Jankovic (SRB) - draw day
Interview with Serbian captain Dejan Vranes - draw day
Interview with Ai Sugiyama (JPN) - draw day
Interview with Ayumi Morita (JPN) - draw day
Interview with Japanese captain Minoru Ueda - draw day
 
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