Andreescu ready to play in Fed Cup

Canadian hasn’t played in three months while left knee injury heals

Canadian tennis star Bianca Andreescu is expected to make her return from a three-month injury layoff in next week’s Fed Cup tie against Switzerland.

Also on the Canadian roster for the Feb. 7-8 qualifier at the Swiss Tennis Arena are Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa.

The winner of the best-of-five matchup on the indoor hard court will earn a berth in the Fed Cup Finals in April.

“The team is looking forward to playing in Biel,” Canadian captain Heidi El Tabakh said Tuesday in a release. “The girls had some good results to start the year and I now hope they will carry that energy into this tie.

“Switzerland has a very tough team and will have the support of a home crowd, but I know that our team will fight until the very last ball with the goal of qualifying for the Fed Cup Finals in Budapest.”

Headlining the Swiss roster is seventh-ranked Belinda Bencic, who’s joined by No. 68 Jil

Teichmann, No. 76 Viktorija Golubic, No. 117 Stefanie Voegele and No. 180 Timea Bacsinszky. Bencic is the highestranked doubles player on the squad at No. 114.

Heinz Guenthardt will serve as captain for ninth-ranked Switzerland. Canada, which is coming off a 4-0 World Group playoff loss to the Czech Republic last April, is ranked 13th.

The losing team will fall into a playoff tie in April against a Regional Group I nation for a chance to reach the 2021 qualifiers.

Andreescu, the world No. 6 from Mississauga, hasn’t played a competitive match since suffering a left knee injury at the

WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China. She had hoped to return at this month’s Australian Open, but pulled out about a week before the start of the tournament.

The 19-year-old was hampered by injuries throughout her breakthrough season last year. Andreescu, who started the year outside the top 150, rocketed up the rankings after earning titles at the BNP Paribas Open, Rogers Cup and U.S. Open.

A shoulder injury last March kept her out of all but one match from April through July. She retired after one match at last year’s French Open and didn’t play at Wimbledon.