The draw for the 2011 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas was made at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
This year’s finalists USA and Italy face tough first round opponents in the form of Belgium and Australia respectively, with the ties being played on 5-6 February.
Sabine Appelmans’s Belgian team will be hoping to avenge their 2007 World Group first round defeat when they host the Americans. Top seed Italy also has to travel, facing Australia down under a week after the Australian Open concludes.
Other World Group match ups include Russia facing France for the first time since the two nations met in the final at Roland Garros in 2005, and Slovak Republic hosting Czech Republic.
In World Group II, Estonia will meet Spain for the first time, while Germany is away to Slovenia. Canada celebrates its return to World Group II with a first round clash away to Serbia and Sweden and Ukraine will play off in Sweden.
[s] = seeded nation [c] = choice of ground [*] = decided by lot
According to the Fed Cup rules, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the World Group are the finalists from the previous year, while all the other seeds are based on the latest ITF Fed Cup Nations Ranking.
Español
