AFP, Paris :
The United States aim to prove again that they can thrive without Serena and Venus Williams when they tackle France for a place in a second consecutive Fed Cup final this weekend.
In 2017, the US won the tournament for the 18th time with a nerve-racking 3-2 victory over Belarus which was only decided in the last doubles rubber when CoCo Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers claimed the winning point.
The Williams sisters did not feature in that final in Minsk but they returned to national colours in February this year in a first round victory over the Netherlands which set-up this weekend’s clash in France.
“I’m very confident that we can make it to another final,” Vandeweghe told fedcup.com ahead of the tie on indoor clay at Aix-en-Provence.
“We have a lot of depth in our squad. From the singles players to the doubles, I think we have come together really well.”
The American team boast world number nine and US Open champion Sloane Stephens, 13th-ranked Madison Keys, Vandeweghe, who is at 16 in the rankings, and doubles specialist Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
France, two-time Fed Cup champions, will be led by world number 20 Kristina Mladenovic but other team members Pauline Parmentier and Amandine Hesse are a modest 122 and 204 respectively.
The United States aim to prove again that they can thrive without Serena and Venus Williams when they tackle France for a place in a second consecutive Fed Cup final this weekend.
In 2017, the US won the tournament for the 18th time with a nerve-racking 3-2 victory over Belarus which was only decided in the last doubles rubber when CoCo Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers claimed the winning point.
The Williams sisters did not feature in that final in Minsk but they returned to national colours in February this year in a first round victory over the Netherlands which set-up this weekend’s clash in France.
“I’m very confident that we can make it to another final,” Vandeweghe told fedcup.com ahead of the tie on indoor clay at Aix-en-Provence.
“We have a lot of depth in our squad. From the singles players to the doubles, I think we have come together really well.”
The American team boast world number nine and US Open champion Sloane Stephens, 13th-ranked Madison Keys, Vandeweghe, who is at 16 in the rankings, and doubles specialist Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
France, two-time Fed Cup champions, will be led by world number 20 Kristina Mladenovic but other team members Pauline Parmentier and Amandine Hesse are a modest 122 and 204 respectively.
