Williams sisters skip Fed Cup opener

Serena and Venus Williams will not play for the United States in the Fed Cup World Group One opener against Spain on February 7-8.

Their names were missing from the team lists which were announced on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, defending chamnpions Russia will have Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova in their side to tackle China, but the injured Maria Sharapova is a high-profile absentee.

World Group

At Moscow (indoors hard court)

Russia v China

Russia:

Elena Dementieva,

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze,

Alisa Kleybanova

Captain:

Shamil Tarpischev

China: Zheng Jie, Yan Zi,

Zhang Shuai,

Tiantian Sun

Captain: Zhang Qi

At Orleans

France v Italy

(indoors hard court)

France: Alize Cornet,

Amelie Mauresmo,

Nathalie Dechy,

Severine Bremond

Captain:

Nicolas Escude

Italy:

Francesca Schiavone,

Flavia Pennetta,

Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci

Captain:

Corrado Barazzutti

At Surprise, Arizona

(outdoors hard court)

USA v Argentina

USA: Bethanie Mattek,

Jill Craybas,

Melanie Oudin,

Liezel Huber

Captain:

Mary-Joe Fernandez

Argentina: Gisela Dulko,

Betina Jozami,

Soledad Esperon,

Aranza Salut

Captain: Ricardo Rivera

At Brno (indoors carpet)

Czech Republic v Spain

Czech Republic:

Iveta Benesova,

Petra Kvitova,

Lucie Safarova,

Kveta Peschke

Captain: Petr Pala

Spain:

Carla Suarez Navarro,

Nuria Llagostera Vives,

Maria-Jose Martinez

Sanchez,

Lourdes Dominguez-Lino

Captain:

Miguel Margets Lobato

PARIS, Thursdayu(AFP)