MOSCOW (AP) Russia will be missing its best players when it faces a full-strength Italy in the Fed Cup final in Cagliari, Sardinia next week.
When the teams were announced on Wednesday, Russia named its 12th highest-ranked player, Alexandra Panova, as its main singles player for the Nov. 2-3 final.
Panova, ranked 138th, will be making her Fed Cup debut, along with Irina Khromacheva (231st) and Margarita Gasparyan (317th).
Only former top-20 player Alisa Kleybanova, fallen to 186th, has played Fed Cup, three years ago.
By contrast, Italy will send out its four best players, Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta and Karin Knapp, with no room for 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. All of them are ranked in the top 50.