2011 Fed Cup Final

The Fed Cup represents the ultimate in women’s team tennis. Will it be the Czech Republic or Russia who stand triumphant?

Russia has won four times all within a five year spurt between 2004 and 2008. Czech Republic has never won, though the former Czechoslovakia won five times, the last of which was in 1988.

Russia began with a hard fought 3-2 win over France, followed by a 5-0 win over defending champions Italy. All of their ties in 2011, including the final, will be played in Russia.

The Russians are strong and have four players in the top 30. Vera Zvonareva, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Kirilenko. This all around depth is why betting has loved the Russian side all year.

The Czech Republic is playing all of their ties in 2011 on the road. They won 3-2 over Slovakia before getting by Belgium with the same score. The tie was level at 2-2 with Belgium before the Czechs won in the fifth rubber.

The Czech side boasts Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova who are number 3 and 24 in the rankings. Then there is doubles specialist Kveta Peschke who has a doubles ranking of 2.
Kvitova who is fresh off her win in the WTA Tour championships and who won Wimbledon this year is in great form and is spearheading the Czech’s hopes. In the WTA Tour Championships she played and defeated Zvonareva in straight sets. This will fill her with confidence ahead of the Fed Cup Final.

Not much separates the two sides so for the tie is tight. The Czechs have the form but the Russians have the experience. Expect live betting to fluctuate throughout the course of the tie.

Tennis Betting – what you need to know:

●      Petra Kvitova has won all four of the Fed Cup matches she has played in 2011.

●      Russia has hosted the Fed Cup final twice and won both times.

●      USA in 2000 was the last non-European winner.

Five of the last seven finals have been all-European ties.

The Biggest Manchester Derby Ever

The two Manchester sides sit on top of the Premier League table. Has there ever been a bigger more significant Manchester Derby? The Denis Law game in the 1970s is as close as it gets, but this game will surpass it.

For a while City has been trying to establish itself as a legitimate contender, a claim that Sir Alex Ferguson and United have been quick to dismiss. Eight games into the season, they need to respect the credentials of their rivals, especially as a win will give City a five point lead over United.

The blotch on City’s season has been the Champions League where they have failed to make their mark after two group games. They host Villarreal during the week while United travel to Romania. The only consolation for United is that their game should be a cakewalk and this will allow them to rest most of their players ahead of the Derby.

As far as the League go, City have been just about perfect. A 2-2 draw to Fulham prevented them from making it 8 wins from 8 matches.

The Carlos Tevez saga has been a massive distraction and while they may not need him on the pitch, it still has made for a messy incident. Against Aston Villa they could afford having the likes of Samir Nasri, David Silva, Kolo Toure and Edin Dzeko on the bench. Notwithstanding this, they still scored four goals and not one of them came from Dzeko or Sergio Aguero who have 14 goals between them.

United have their own distractions, with Wayne Rooney’s sending off in a EURO 2012 qualifier creating a lot of unwanted discussion. Because of this, Rooney didn’t start against Liverpool and couldn’t add to his tally of nine Premier League goals. Javier Hernandez made a welcome return scoring five minutes after stepping onto the field.

The anticipation for this match has been brewing for weeks and the hype is expected to reach fever pitch once the weekend comes. There are so many storylines and sub-plots that give the match extra dimensions. United will be looking for revenge after losing to City in the FA Cup semi-finals, while City would still be licking their wounds after the Community Shield.

Like any game, there are only three points up for grabs, but for both sides there is a lot more to it than that.