Oudin first up for U.S. Fed Cup team

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 23 (UPI) -- Melanie Oudin was given the lead-off position for the United States for its Fed Cup best-of-five semifinal series against Russia.

The U.S. team is looking for a second consecutive trip to the Fed Cup title series but will need to get past a strong Russian contingent that travels to Birmingham, Ala., for the semifinals. The matches will be played indoors on a hard court.

The Russia-United States winner advances to the Fed Cup finals Nov. 6-7 against either the Czech Republic or Italy.

Oudin, No. 31 in the world, was given the first match Saturday and will go against world No. 78 Alla Kudryavtseva. The second match features No. 129-ranked Bethanie Mattek-Sands versus world No. 6 Elena Dementieva.

The singles matches flip for Sunday with Oudin taking on Dementieva and Mattek-Sands meeting Kudryavtseva.

If those matches are split, the series will come down to a doubles match in which the United States will send out doubles specialist Liezel Huber and Mattek-Sands against Dementieva and Ekaterina Makarova.

Russia has won four of the last six Fed Cup titles. The United States owns 17 championships -- the most of any country -- but hasn't won the title since 2000.