I usually can't wait for the Fed Cup final, but this year, I haven't even bought a viewing pass. Alexandra Panova and Irina Khromacheva are playing singles for Russia, and Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci are playing singles for Italy. And in the unfortunate case that one of the Italians is injured, Flavia Pennetta--the Queen of Fed Cup--is there and available.
Pennetta are Karin Knapp are scheduled to play the doubles rubber, should there be such a match. Margarita Gasparyan and Alisa Kleybanova are scheduled to play doubles for Russia. Kleybanova, of course--despite her lengthy absence from the tour--would be the logical choice to compete against Errani and Vinci in singles, but Russia appears to have written this one off.
I still don't know what happened to Camila Giorgi, who was supposed to be on the Italian team, but at this point, she probably isn't missing much.
Strange things do happen in Fed Cup, and upsets aren't unusual, but the morale of the Russian team can't possibly be very high, given the snubbing its own regular players have given it. One of those players, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, has made it to the semifinals in Sofia, which take place tomorrow, which is day 1 of the Fed Cup final.
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