Israel gets favorable draw for Eilat Fed Cup tourny

National team will face Poland, Bulgaria and Luxembourg in Eilat next week.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Shahar Peer 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Israel’s hopes of advancing to the Fed Cup World Group II playoffs were handed a boost on Monday, when the national team was drawn to face Poland, Bulgaria and Luxembourg in Eilat next week in Pool B of Europe/Africa Zone Group I.
The Israel squad, composed of Shahar Pe’er (No. 12 in the world), Julia Glushko (233), Keren Shlomo (530) and Valeria Patiuk, will need to finish the pool in first position to advance to a tie against another of the four pool winners for a place in April’s World Group II playoffs.
The bottom nations in each pool face a fight to avoid relegation.
Besides Israel, 14 other teams will be coming to Eilat, with the matches to begin on Tuesday and end on Saturday.
“We received a reasonable draw,” Israel captain Lior Mor said. “Clearly, it could have been tougher as we may have been placed with the likes of Switzerland, Romania and Hungary.
However, it could have also been easier. The teams we were handed may not look that good on paper, but they will be tough to crack and every tie will be open.”
Bulgaria is led by Tsvetana Pironkova (36), Elitsa Kostova (216) and Dia Evtimova (258), while Poland will have to manage with Magda Linette (176) and Urszula Radwanska (201), with Agnieszka Radwanska (14) set to forgo next week’s matches.
Luxembourg, with Mandy Minella (135) and Anne Kremer (196), is regarded as the weakest team in the pool, but will not be easy to beat either.
Pool A emerged as the group of death in Eilat, with Switzerland, Great Britain and Denmark being drawn together.
Switzerland is led by Patty Schnyder alongside fellow Top 50 player Timea Bacsinszky, while Great Britain has named Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong. However, Denmark boasts world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.
Belarus, having nominated world No. 9 Victoria Azarenka and world No.
73 Olga Govortsova, will be the favorite in Pool C, which also includes Austria, Croatia and Greece. Pool D will be competed between Hungary, Romania, Netherlands and Latvia.