Tennis Canada – All matches will be broadcast on TVA Sports and Sportsnet.ca 

Bratislava, April 15, 2016 – The official draw for the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group II playoff tie between Canada and Slovakia took place on Friday at the Aegon Arena in Bratislava. The tie will be played indoors on red clay on April 16 and 17.

The Canadian team of Françoise Abanda (Montreal), Sharon Fichman (Toronto), Charlotte Robillard-Millette (Blainville, QC), and Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) will play two singles matches on Saturday followed by two more singles and a doubles match on Sunday against Slovakia. Sylvain Bruneau, captain of the Canadian team since 2010, will captain this weekend’s tie as Canada tries to keep its place in World Group II for 2017.   

Bruneau has chosen Abanda and Wozniak to play singles and Slovakia’s captain, Matej Liptak, will counter with Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (no. 34) and Dominika Cibulkova (no. 38), who just won the Katowice title in Poland on Sunday. Nineteen-year-old Abanda is making her fourth appearance in Fed Cup while Wozniak will contest the 51st and 52nd Fed Cup matches of her career. She won her 40^th Fed Cup match in February. In doubles, Canada will be represented by Fichman and Robillard-Millette. They will face the Slovak pair of Jana Cepelova and Cibulkova.  

Here are this weekend’s match ups as determined by the draw:
  

	Representing Canada	Representing Slovakia
1st singles match – Saturday April 16, 6 a.m. E.T.	Françoise Abanda	Dominika Cibulkova
2nd singles match – Saturday April 16	Aleksandra Wozniak	Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
3rd singles match – Sunday April 17, 7 a.m. E.T.	Françoise Abanda	Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
4th singles match – Sunday April 17	Aleksandra Wozniak	Dominika Cibulkova
Doubles match – Sunday April 17	Sharon Fichman/Charlotte Robillard-Millette	Jana Cepelova/Dominika Cibulkova

 
“We definitely have a tough task ahead of us but Françoise and Aleksandra love playing Fed Cup and they always bring their best,” said Bruneau. “We’ve had a very good week of practice. They are feeling comfortable on the clay and we’re ready to get started.”

This is the third meeting between Canada and Slovakia in Fed Cup. Canada won the last encounter 3-1 in Quebec City in 2014 and lost 5-0 in 1997. The winner of the tie will remain in World Group II for 2017 while the loser will be relegated to the Zone Group I competition.

The Canadian team is facing a country that has not been excluded from World Group II since 2006. Slovakia reached the Fed Cup semifinals in 2013 and won the title in 2002.

Two singles matches will be played on Saturday April 16 starting at 6 a.m. E.T. Play begins at 7 a.m. on Sunday April 17 with two singles matches followed by doubles. All matches will be best of three sets.
 
Matches will be broadcast on TVA Sports and Sportsnet.ca.

About Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with 101 nations entered in 2016. The competition is 53 years old having been founded in 1963. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Fed Cup. International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Adecco (Official HR Sponsor) and Betway (Official Betting Sponsor). beIN SPORTS is the Official Global Media Rights Partner. Follow all the action on www.fedcup.com, www.fedcup.com/es,www.twitter.com/fedcup, www.facebook.com/FedCup, www.Weibo.com/fedcupofficial and www.fedcup.tv.
 
About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, 10 professional ITF sanctioned events and financially supports 12 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates junior national training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our Web site at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
 
  

 
 
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