US name unfamiliar line-up for Fed Cup final

NEW YORK: Defending champions the United States have named an unfamiliar-looking lineup missing all their big guns for next week’s Fed Cup final against a powerful Czech Republic.

With Serena and Venus Williams unavailable together with sloane stephen sand Madison Keys, captain Kathy Rinaldi’s top-ranked player is world number 35 Danielle Collins.

She will be joined in Prague by 48th ranked Sofia Kenin, number 63 Alison Riske and Nicole Melichar, the world’s 15th ranked doubles player. The tie takes place on Nov 10-11. Riske was a member of the US squad that won the Fed Cup title over Belarus last year in Minsk but this is a first Fed Cup nomination for Collins, Kenin and Melichar.

Stephens is the highest American on the WTA rankings at sixth while Keys is 16th. The Williams sisters Serena and Venus are currently ranked 15th and 40th.

The Czechs will be rolling out their best to face the US with world number seven Petra Kvitova and number eight Karolina Pliskova along with doubles number one Katerina Siniakova and number five Barbora Strycova. All are expected to see action in the best-of-five match series inside Prague’s O2 Arena.

The world number seven and eight, respectively, will team up with 31st-ranked Katerina Siniakova, the world number one in doubles, and 33rd-ranked Barbora Strycova, who is fifth in doubles.

“I’m really excited, I appreciate having the strongest team I could put together,” said captain Petr Pala, quoted by the CTK news agency.

The final pitting the two most successful nations in Fed Cup history -- the USA with 18 trophies and the Czech Republic with 10 including five as the former Czechoslovakia -- will be played on the hardcourt of the sold-out 15,000-capacity O2 Arena.

Holders the US beat Belarus in Minsk last year after seeing off the Czechs in the semi-final.

Led by Kvitova and Pliskova, the Czechs have won five of the last seven editions including all three finals they have played on Prague’s hardcourt.