Strong Russian team set for Fed Cup

MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Defending champion Russia will field a team led by Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova in this weekend's Federation Cup quarterfinal against China.

The Russians chose a hard court in Moscow's Olympic Stadium for the best-of-five quarterfinal matchup. China will be without 20th-rated Jie Zheng, who withdrew with a wrist injury and has no player rated in the top 100 on its current roster.

Kuznetsova, ranked No. 7 in the world, was given Saturday's opening match assignment and will face Zi Yan while Dementieva, ranked fourth, is to play Shuai Zhang.

Sunday will feature reverse singles and a doubles match between Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Alisa Kleybanova and Chinese Yan and Tiantian Sun.

Russia won four of the last five Fed Cup titles.