2019 Asheville Fed Cup participants announced

Posted on by Web Editors - CAPE
Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Sofia Kenin, Nicole Melichar to play First Round vs. Australia February 9-10 at U.S. Cellular Center.

Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Sofia Kenin,
Nicole Melichar to play
First Round vs. Australia
February 9-10 at U.S. Cellular Center

Local highlights:

  • 2019 Fed Cup First Round vs. Australia happens Feb. 9-10 at Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center.
  •  The matchups and order of play for the weekend’s matches will be determined at an official draw ceremony set for noon Feb. 8 in the U.S. Cellular Center lobby.
  • Tickets are available through TicketMaster and at the USCC box office.
  • Last year’s Fed Cup generated an estimated $3.5 million economic impact to the Asheville area.
  • This year’s event will feature a variety of community and kids’ events that will once again turn the competition into a weeklong celebration of tennis.
  • TV station WLOS-13 will air the matches in Asheville.

Coming Thursday: Insider’s Guide to the 2019 Fed Cup in Asheville!

U.S. Tennis Association press release:

The U.S. Tennis Association and United States Fed Cup Captain Kathy Rinaldi have announced that No. 17 Madison Keys, No. 23 Danielle Collins, No. 36 Sofia Kenin and doubles No. 13 Nicole Melichar will represent the U.S. in the 2019 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group First Round vs. Australia Feb. 9-10 in Asheville.

World singles No. 14 and doubles No. 6 Ashleigh Barty, No. 46 Daria Gavrilova, No. 142 Priscilla Hon, No. 157 Kimberley Birrell and No. 160 Astra Sharma will represent Australia for Captain Alicia Molik in the best-of-five match series, which will be played on a hard court inside Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center.

The U.S. Cellular Center was the site of the U.S. team’s First-Round victory over the Netherlands last year and is the first site to host consecutive Fed Cup ties in the U.S. in 12 years. Play will begin at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s two singles matches will pit each country’s No. 1 player against the other’s No. 2. Sunday will feature the two reverse singles matches — No. 1 vs. No. 1; No. 2 vs. No. 2 — followed by a possible fifth-and-decisive doubles match. A revised schedule for Sunday may take place if a team clinches in the third or fourth match. The matchups and order of play for the weekend’s matches will be determined at the official draw ceremony, which will be held at noon Feb. 8 in the U.S. Cellular Center lobby.

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com. Tennis Channel and Stadium will present live daily coverage nationally in the U.S., and local TV station WLOS-13 will air the matches in Asheville.

The U.S. is 9-5 all-time vs. the Aussies and won their last meeting, 4-0, in the 2016 World Group Playoff. Prior to that, the two countries hadn’t met in Fed Cup since 1985. The winner of this matchup will advance to the Semifinals April 20-21 to play the winner of Germany and Belarus.

Keys, 23, will be appearing in her fifth U.S. Fed Cup tie, after sending the U.S. to its second straight Fed Cup Final last year with a tie-clinching singles win in the Semifinals vs. France. A 2017 US Open finalist and career-high world No. 7, Keys reached the semifinals at both the US Open and French Open and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2018.

Collins, 25, was a breakout star of the 2019 Australian Open, reaching the semifinals in her first maindraw appearance in Melbourne. A two-time NCAA singles champion at the University of Virginia, Collins earned her debut U.S. Fed Cup nomination for the 2018 Final vs. the Czech Republic in Prague last November after a year in which she rose more than 130 spots in the WTA rankings.

Kenin, 20, is the youngest player in the Top 40 and began the 2019 season by winning her first WTA doubles and singles titles in consecutive weeks, in Brisbane and Hobart, respectively. Kenin made her Fed Cup debut in the 2018 Final in Prague as a 19-year old, only the third U.S. teen to make their debut in a Fed Cup Final, and spent 6 ½ hours on court over two singles matches, including a 3 hour, 45-minute thriller vs. Katerina Siniakova in the deciding singles match.

Melichar, 25, is the top-ranked American in women’s doubles and won her fourth career WTA doubles title in Brisbane to start 2019. In 2018, she reached the Wimbledon doubles final and earned her debut Fed Cup nomination for the Final vs. the Czech Republic in Prague.

The USTA has partnered with Explore Asheville, Ingles Markets, Mercedes Benz of Asheville, Mission Health, New Belgium Brewing Company and the Omni Grove Park Inn to bring this event to Asheville. Last year’s tie generated an estimated $3.5 million economic impact on the region, and this year’s tie will feature a variety of community and kids’ events that will once again turn the competition into a weeklong celebration of tennis.

Fed Cup is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sport, with approximately 100 nations taking part each year. The U.S. holds an overall 151-37 record in Fed Cup competition with a 41-6 record in home ties. For more information, including access to player and historical Fed Cup records, please go to USTA.com/fedcup or www.fedcup.com.

Keep up with Team USA using hashtag #TeamUSATennis on Facebook (@USTA), on Twitter (@USTA), and on Instagram (@USTA). Wilson is the official ball of the U.S. Fed Cup team. Deloitte is the official team sponsor of the U.S. Fed Cup Team.

About the U.S. Tennis Association

The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.