The third-seeded Russian dominated Tuesday's match on indoor clay. Srebotnik is coming back after missing eight months of last season with various injuries and has been eliminated in the first round of all five of her tournaments this year.
Kuznetsova won the French Open last year for her second Grand Slam title and is using the Stuttgart event to warm up for the defense of that crown.
The biggest star is rising 18-year-old Melanie Oudin, not a Williams sister, going into a semifinal matchup with Russia on Saturday and Sunday. The Russian team is also missing some highly ranked players, but neither was fretting over who wasn't on hand for the best-of-5 tie at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena.
"We have our core team," U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez said after Friday's draw ceremony. "We've played together a lot already in the last year and a half. Everyone jells really well. It's great chemistry. It would have been a bonus to have one of the Williams sisters here or both obviously. But unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. But this is what we're used to, this is what we know, and this is what we love.
Serena and Venus Williams - the world No. 1 and No. 4 player, respectively - bowed out with leg problems. That leaves Oudin, who will open against Russia's No. 2 singles player, Alla Kudryavtseva. It will be Kudryavtseva's first Fed Cup tie.
Oudin reached a career-high 31st in the rankings this week and made the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open last year after upsetting Dementieva.
She has a brief but scintillating history with No. 6-ranked Dementieva, her Sunday opponent. They have split two meetings with both earning come-from-behind, three-set victories. Oudin won in last year's U.S. Open in a performance that thrust the teen from suburban Atlanta - a couple of hours from Birmingham - into the spotlight. Dementieva returned the favor in the semifinals of the Open GDF Suez in Paris in February en route to the title.
"Both matches were hard-fought matches, almost three hours," Oudin said. "I know her game very well. She knows mine really well so I think it's going to be a really good match."
Russia has won four of the last six Fed Cup titles, losing to Italy in the finals in 2009. Seeking its record 18th Fed Cup title, the U.S. won the first four meetings and has lost the last three.
Russia is currently No. 2 in the Fed Cup standings, behind Italy and one spot ahead of the U.S.
Russia brought only three of its top 15 players, and is missing world No. 3 Dinara Safina and No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova, along with No. 14 Maria Sharapova.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands will play Dementieva in the second singles match. She will team Sunday with No. 1-ranked doubles player Liezel Huber, apparently against Dementieva and Ekaterina Makarova.
Huber isn't sure she's buying that lineup submitted Friday by Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev.
"As far as my knowledge, is that Dementieva doesn't play doubles," Huber said. "I don't know if they put that in to kind of fake us up. Maybe Dementieva has some hidden doubles skills that we don't know about. But bottom line is they all are good players. If it comes down to the wire, I'm looking forward to playing that doubles match."
Dementieva joked that she couldn't remember her last doubles outing, but she's had plenty of success earlier in her career. She won four doubles titles in 2002 and teamed with Safina to secure the Fed Cup title three years later in the finals against France, winning all three of her matches.
"I think that I'm a very experienced player and if my team really needs me to play in a doubles match, I will do so," Dementieva said. "Ekaterina and Alla have been playing doubles almost every single tournament and they've been pretty successful. I don't think it's going to be a problem for us."
Tarpischev mentioned that 2005 Fed Cup match with Dementieva and Safina.
"They had never played together before and they won," he said through a translator. "So you never know. You could have a great result and you could win. It could happen."
Mattek-Sands and Huber staged a big rally in last year's semifinals against the Czech Republic to break a 2-2 tie and secure the Americans' first finals berth since 2003. That could make a similar pressurized situation a little more familiar if it comes down to match No. 5.
"It's definitely a lot of confidence, no matter what the circumstances are," Mattek-Sands said. "We couldn't get down any more, I don't think: (6-2), 5-1, 40-15, I had second serve. You can't come back from more than that, really. It was a great comeback."
It was the second career title for the 26-year-old Australian, who won last year at Osaka.
Stosur, who will reach No. 10 in the world rankings with the victory, needed only 52 minutes to defeat her Russian opponent in the shortest final in the 38-year history of the Family Circle Cup.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here"This is bigger than Osaka, and to do it here and on clay and be playing well all week and everything is just a great feeling," Stosur said. "You can't really compare the two, but this is definitely a bigger event, and I'm very pleased that I was able to play so well."
Stosur lost only five points in overpowering her Russian opponent in the first set. She then went up 3-0 in the second, prompting a frustrated Zvonareva to smash her racket into the green clay three times after a double-fault.
Zvonareva went on to hold serve that game and got to 4-3 when she broke Stosur for the only time in the match.
But Stosur broke back in the next game and then held serve to love - her first point in the final game a 113 mph ace - to win the match.
"I think she played really well, but I also let her play really well," said the 25-year-old Zvonareva, ranked No. 22. "A couple of things that I tried to do, they didn't work today. I made a few unforced errors and then I stayed too passive."
She wasn't so passive when she took her frustrations out on her racket.
"You know, you just gotta try to change something up," she said. "Just maybe break a racket, forget about what was happening for the past half an hour and start all over again."
Stosur wasn't rattled when it seemed Zvonareva might come back in the second set.
"I still felt like I was definitely well in control of the match, and even though it was on serve, I'd broken her a number of times," she said. "And you only have to add up the amount of games I'd won compared to what she'd won."
Stosur said she felt comfortable with her game after gaining early leads in her matches all week.
"To be able to play that well in a final is a great feeling," said Stosur, who received $107,000 and a crystal vase for her victory.
Zvonareva was runner-up at the Family Circle two years ago.
Last year she injured her right ankle in a third-round match. The injury forced her to sit out the rest of last year's clay-court season and she had surgery last November.
"I think right now I'm a bit disappointed about the match, but overall I think it's a good start to the clay-court season," Zvonareva said. "It's my first clay-court tournament in two years, pretty much. So I should be happy about how I did this week."
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Wozniacki fell behind 3-4 in the first set on the green clay on Daniel Island before breaking Zahlavova Strycovia to even the set. The world's second-ranked player then held serve in a game that went to deuce three times before breaking her opponent at love in the next game to take the set.
"She got a lot of balls back, and I just needed to find my game and find a way how to beat her, and once I did that, I won a lot of points and I won the games," said Wozniacki, who is coming off a win last week at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereWozniacki will play on Thursday against 16th-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who ousted Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal 6-3, 6-1.
Three players withdrew from their second-round matches on Wednesday, including fifth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France who retired during the third set of her evening match with Peng Shuai of China.
Bartoli was pale and holding her stomach and head during a changeover about 2 hours, 20 minutes into the match.
Tour spokeswoman Mary Jane Orman said Bartoli felt fine entering the match but suffered stomach pains and dizziness during the match. Shuai was ahead 2-6, 7-6 (2), 4-3 at the time.
Third-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Ayumi Morita of Japan also retired. Azarenka, the world No. 9, retired with a left hamstring pull while leading qualifier Christina McHale of the U.S. 6-2, 2-2; and Morita retired with a thigh strain while trailing Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 2-0.
Azarenka, who had ice taped around her leg, said she was injured last week in Marbella.
"It's not that bad, but I hoped that it's probably got better, you know, and healed," she said. "It obviously didn't today, but you know, I just need to keep rehabbing it."
American Melanie Oudin, seeded 13th, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Sophie Ferguson of Australia, her second straight-set victory of the tournament.
"I've been going three sets a lot lately and especially after winning the first set. So I'm so happy to be done with my first two rounds and two sets in each one makes life a lot easier," said the 18-year-old Oudin who last year, as a qualifier at the Family Circle, won two main draw matches and later in the year made the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
In other matches sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated American Vania King 6-2, 6-1, while 10th-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, and Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Monique Adamczak of Australia 6-3, 6-2.
In other second-round matches, Vera Dushevina of Russia defeated Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2, Evgeniya Rodina of Russia outlasted Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine defeated American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
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Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber are on the team announced Wednesday by U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez for the April 24-25 Fed Cup semifinal against Russia at Birmingham, Ala.
Fernandez said she is leaving the fourth roster spot open "in case Venus or Serena is healthy enough to compete." Serena Williams has been sidelined by a left knee injury since winning the Australian Open.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereFernandez hopes "to make a decision early next week." The roster can be changed up to one hour before the April 23 draw.
Oudin of Marietta, Ga., reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year.
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The unseeded Argentine turned aggressive in the second set and pulled away from the hard-serving Querrey for his fifth tour championship and his first since beating Carlos Moya in Acapulco in March 2007.
Chela stayed steady on his favorite surface and wrapped up the title at the first match point when Querrey returned a serve out of bounds. Chela earned $79,900 and Querrey took home $42,000.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereQuerrey, ranked No. 25, hit 19 winners to two for Chela in the first set. By the end of the second set, Chela was matching Querrey winner for winner.
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The second-ranked Wozniacki came back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set.
Gorvotsova led 5-4 and had set point but netted a backhand volley aimed at an open court. The game lasted 22 points and she lost it on a double fault, one of her eight on the day.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereWozniacki took home $37,000 with the win.
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Zeballos, the 2009 ATP newcomer of the year, broke Gonzalez in the first game of the second set, but had to struggle to hold his serve later in the final set to beat Gonzalez, ranked 11th in the world. Zeballos is ranked 54th.
Gonzalez forced one break point in the sixth game before Zaballos held. In the eighth game, Zaballos escaped three break points aided by three aces.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereZeballos sent Gonzalez diving for a drop shot that left the Argentine flat on his stomach in the next to last point of the eighth game. After changing shirts, Gonzalez returned to hit a backhand behind the baseline to end the game.
Zeballos won it with an ace on the first match point in the 10th game.
Zeballos will face fellow Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in the semifinals. Chela beat injury-slowed defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-4, 6-3.
"Zeballos played a good match and I didn't play my best tennis," Gonzalez said.
Hewitt, fourth seeded, played in his first tournament since undergoing surgery on his right hip Jan. 29. He made one charge after falling behind 5-0 in the second set, breaking the Argentine in the sixth and eighth games. Chela, ranked 84th in the world, ended the brief rally by breaking back in the ninth game.
Third-seeded Sam Querry of the United States also advanced, overcoming a balky serve to beat Chile's Nicolas Massu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Querry will face American Wayne Odesnik, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Belgium's Xavier Malisse.
Odesnik has been a controversial figure during the tournament. He pleaded guilty on March 26 to taking human growth hormones into Australia. He has denied using HGH and is continuing to play while his case is being investigated by the ATP.
"I would refuse to lose to that guy," Querry said.
Odesnik, who has declined comment on his case, replied: "We'll see what happens tomorrow."
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"It took everything," Oudin said of the 2-hour, 27-minute match. "I started off not exactly like I wanted to, losing the first 10 points of the match, and I was looking forward to winning a point."
After dropping the opening set, the eighth-seeded Oudin took a 3-0 lead in the second before Peng fought back.
A key moment for Oudin came at 5-all in the second trailing 0-40 and she rallied to win.
"That was a huge game to win because she would have been serving for the second set," Oudin said.
She will next face fourth-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia in the quarterfinals. Vesnina beat German Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-2 earlier in the day.
Vesnina fell behind 3-2 in the first set but won 24 of the next 26 points to close out the set and take a 2-0 lead in the second. At 4-1 in the second a wind gusting to more than 25 mph played havoc with the Russian.
"I was hitting against the wind and she was hitting so hard and the ball was heavy," Vesnina said. "I was trying to hit it, but it was not flying to the baseline."
Goerges began the seventh game of the second with a pair of aces before play was delayed nearly 10 minutes when a fan passed out in the stands and was treated. When play resumed, Vesnina won four consecutive points for a 5-2 lead in windy conditions.
"It's scary," Vesnina said. "(The delay) helped me a little bit, actually. She served me two aces in a row and the lady passed out and I can tell her thank you, actually. I saw the doctor and he told me she was fine now."
Varvara Lepchenko, who got in the tournament as a Lucky Loser when Virginie Razzano withdrew, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Anne Kerber. Olga Govortsova, of Belarus, won 71 percent of her first-serve points in beating Georgia's Anna Tatishvili, 6-2, 6-2.
In doubles, Goerges and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova lost to Sarah Borwell and American Raquel Kops-Jones, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.
Azarenka received treatment on court to her left leg but was not able to continue.
Second-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Romanian qualifier Simona Halep 6-4, 7-6 (4), and eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain rallied to beat Tatjana Malek of Germany 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
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The green clay tournament begins this weekend and will be played without three of the world's top 30 women's tennis players. Top-ranked Williams, 2009 tourney champion Sabine Lisicki, and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova also pulled out Thursday.
Williams said in a statement released by the tournament that her knee "has not fully healed" and that she looks forward to "returning to the WTA Tour in Europe."
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereLisicki is out because of a left ankle injury. Sharapova announced her withdrawl due to her continuing recovery from an elbow injury.
The clay-court season picks up in earnest later this month in Europe, leading to the French Open, which begins May 23.
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Schwank, the seventh seed, says a back problem caused him to use numerous drop shots and lobs in his Tuesday match. The crowd booed him after he foot-faulted on match point.
Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was set to play lucky loser Somdev Devvarman of India in his first singles match since recovering from hip surgery on Jan. 29 later Tuesday.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here"The problem with my back, it affected me mentally so it didn't help the match," Schwank said through an interpreter. "I was doing drop shots to shorten the point so to not exert my back so much and also to make him run and get him tired."
Chela said it was difficult to play at such an inconsistent pace.
"It's hard to keep concentration when two points are very well played and two points are poorly played," Chela said through an interpreter. "He kept doing those drop shots so it was really hard to focus. I tried to stay on course and play my best tennis."
Schwank said his back had bothered him for a few days. He planned to return home and expects to play at Barcelona.
"Well I don't like to retire, that's why I just played until the end," Schwank said. "For me it was the same, retiring or not. At the end it's the same. I'd rather stay on the court and loose on court."
Chela disagreed with the strategy.
"I think if you have any sort of pain, where you don't feel well and aren't able to give 100 percent on the court, it's better to just retire," he said.
Nicolas Massu of Chile had to played the longest match on tour this year (three hours, 25 minutes) before finally beating qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
Sweeting was trying to reach his first quarterfinal on the ATP tour this year and he almost did it until Massu finally took advantage of Sweeting's missed chances.
"I thought I was the more aggressive player throughout the whole match," Sweeting said. "I had chances in every set. I don't think the first set needed to go 7-6. I was up a break there and I was up a break in the second and third."
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Victor Hanescu of Romania rallied after losing the first set and beat Jarkko Nieminen 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Klizan, ranked 212th, won more points than Wawrinka (87-85), but was broken in the 10th game of the opening and final sets.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereHanescu reached his first quarterfinal of the year after struggling to cope with Nieminen's powerful serve. Nieminen won 16 of his first 19 service points.
Hanescu took a 3-0 lead in the second set. Nieminen had chances in the third, wasting five break points.
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Fernando Gonzalez of Chile organized the event Saturday with Roddick's help. Grand Slam champions Jim Courier and Gustavo Kuerten also played.
Roddick came up with the shot of the match - a back-to-the-net flick through his legs and between his opponents for a winner. As the crowd roared, Roddick waved his index finger and sprinted off the court, pretending to leave.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here"See you tomorrow!" he shouted.
He'll face Tomas Berdych in the men's final.
The charity event raised $125,000 and drew several thousand fans, who occasionally chanted, "Chi-chi-chi! Le-le-le!"
"I felt lucky to participate," Kuerten said. "Hopefully this will give people some hopes and dreams."
"My country will never forget this," Gonzalez said.
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