The final of the 2017 Fed Cup, the major international tennis tournament in the women’s game, will get underway on the weekend of November 11th. It is two days of high-class action featuring the USA and Belarus who will be scrapping it out to get their hands on the coveted team prize.
The Fed Cup only consists of the three rounds, the quarter finals being played in February, the semi finals in March and then at the end of the regular WTA season, the Final gets played. It is the USA who are going into this year’s Final as the red-hot favourites to get their hands on the prize and end 17 years worth of misery in the competition.
They will be taking on the Belarusians who are making their first appearance in the final of the tournament, but who are rapidly becoming quite the force in the format. Will they be able to win it at the first time of asking against a USA side who have won it seventeen times before? The USA go as 2/9 favourites leaving Belarus at 13/5.
Team News
Team Belarus will be missing their number one star Victoria Azarenka. That’s because of personal stuff which also saw her skip the US Open. She didn’t actually compete in the two previous rounds but would have been called up for this one. 19-year-old Aryna Sabalenka leads the team, joined by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Vera Lapko and Lidziya Marozava.
The USA does not have the luxury of calling on either Venus or Serena Williams for this final which would have made them even stronger. Still, they have 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens batting for them along with Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers and Alison Riske. It is not a bad line up.
Betting Tip
Even though Belarus have home advantage on the indoor court, this may be too large of a mountain for them. Aliaksandra Sasnovich has carried them well through the singles in the previous rounds but the young Belarus team is going to come up against some heavy hitters in this one and they may struggle against the collective experience of the USA side.
Coco Vandeweghe was the clutch player as the USA beat the top seeds the Czech Republic in the semi finals and she should have a big impact in this one and she and Stephens should be strong in the singles matches. Belarus have won their last nine matches in Fed Cup action, a sequence going back to 2015, but the USA could wrap this up in the singles alone. Look for the USA to take a 3-1 win.