STOWE, Vt., July 13 (UPI) -- Wimbledon champion Venus Williams will play the second singles match for the United States this weekend in a Federation Cup semifinal against Russia.
The United States plays host to the strong Russian team in Stowe, Vt., in the Fed Cup semifinals. The best-of-five series is to be played on a hardcourt with the winner qualifying for the Fed Cup title Sept. 15-16 against the winner of a semifinal between France and Italy.
Williams, who moved from 31st to 17th in the latest world rankings, is scheduled to face ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova in a singles match Saturday. The first match of the series sends world No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze against 84th-ranked Vania King.
King is taking the place of No. 7 Serena Williams, who withdrew from the Fed Cup match because of injuries. The Russia team is also missing top players, as world No. 2 Maria Sharapova and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova are out because of injury.
Sunday's play is to begin with the Russian doubles team of Petrova and Elena Vesnina going against King and Lisa Raymond. Venus Williams is scheduled to play Chakvetadze and King goes against Petrova in the reverse singles.
