THE CANADIAN PRESS
Tennis Canada announced Thursday the players nominated to compete in the upcoming Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group I commencing the week of January 28 in Medellin, Colombia.
The players are: Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., Ekaterina Shulaeva of Oakville, Ont., and Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., were named to the squad by team captain Rene Collins.
"Team Canada is very well represented," said Collins, who starred for Canada in Fed Cup as a player from 1988-1998. "Having swept this competition the last time we were in Colombia in April 2006, we feel very confident and are looking forward to the tie."
Wozniak has a very impressive Fed Cup win/loss record of 19-4 over four years of Fed Cup play. She is second on Canada’s all-time singles wins list with 15 and her 19 total victories put her fourth overall. She played in the longest rubber (three hours, 49 minutes) in Canadian Fed Cup history, in a 7-5, 4-6, 11-9 encounter against Vilmarie Castellvi of Puerto Rico in 2005.
Wozniak gained entry into all four Grand Slam main draws in 2007 and reached her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final at a Tier IV event in Fes, Morocco. Wozniak reached a career-high ranking on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on May 21, 2007 at No.83.
Dubois has been a member of Canada’s Fed Cup team since 2004. In that time she has compiled an 11-5 win/loss record. Her biggest Fed Cup win came in July 2006 when she defeated Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, in the fourth rubber to advance Canada to the World Group II for the first time since 1996.
Pelletier is considered the veteran of Canada’s Fed Cup team having played two years longer than any other current member of the team. She has assembled a 17-12 win/loss record over the years and boasts a convincing 9-3 doubles record.
Shulaeva will be making her first Fed Cup appearance for Canada in Colombia. She is the fourth-ranked Canadian female on the Sony Ericsson WTA behind her three Fed Cup teammates.
The last time Canada took part in a zonal round-robin was also in Medellin, Colombia in April 2006. The team of Dubois, Sharon Fichman (Toronto, Ontario), Pelletier and Wozniak posted a perfect 9-0 record through three ties beating Uruguay, Chile and Mexico without dropping a set.
They then faced Brazil in the playoff and completed the sweep by defeating them 3-0. These victories propelled Canada into a World Group II playoff where they defeated Argentina 3-2 on home soil in Edmonton in July 2006. The victory over Argentina put Canada’s Fed Cup team into the World Group II for 2007.
Unfortunately, losses to both Israel and Argentina have forced Canada back into zonal play for 2008.