Tuesday, 8 April, 2008

Maria Sharapova will sit out Russia's Fed Cup semi-final with the United States later this month.

The Australian Open champion has been rested for the clash, which will take place in Moscow on April 26-27, with Svetlana Kuznetsova taking her place in the team.

"We had an agreement with Kuznetsova and Sharapova that one of them would play against Israel and the other against the US," Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev told the official Fed Cup website. "Sharapova had already played in Tel Aviv, so now it's Kuznetsova's turn."

Anna Chakvetadze, Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina have also been named in the team.

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