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LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel will provide complete coverage of the U.S. Fed Cup team’s semifinal match up in Brno, Czech Republic, this weekend, with live telecasts Saturday and Sunday.

Semifinal competition between the United States and Czech Republic will consist of two singles matches on Saturday, April 25, and two singles matches and the doubles match Sunday, April 26. Tennis Channel will carry all matches live, beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday and 6 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Coverage from Starobrno Rondo Arena is as follows (subject to change):

The United States and Czech Republic have faced each other in Fed Cup play ten times before, with the Americans winning eight of those matches. The most recent competition was during the 2003 Fed Cup first round, when the United States defeated the Czech team 5-0 in Lowell, Mass. The United States enters this weekend’s match up after reaching the 2009 Fed Cup semifinal for the fifth consecutive year by defeating Argentina 3-2 in Surprise, Ariz., in February. The United States leads all nations with 17 Fed Cup championships, the most recent in 2000 when it defeated Russia 5-0 in Las Vegas.

The 2009 U.S. Fed Cup team is captained by retired American tennis star Mary Joe Fernandez, who won the Fed Cup championship as a member of the team in 1996. Fernandez also holds two Grand Slam doubles titles, winning the Australian Open in 1991 with doubles partner Patty Fendick and the French Open in 1996 with Lindsay Davenport. She also competed in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, winning a gold metal in doubles with Gigi Fernandez and a bronze metal in singles and won the Olympic gold metal for the second straight time for the U.S. team in 1996 with Fernandez. This year’s squad includes Fed Cup newcomers Bethanie Mattek, who comes into this weekends match after reaching the second round of BNP Paribas Open before losing to Gisela Dulko in Indian Wells, Calif., and Alexa Glatch, who is building on a career year that saw her reach the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami before losing to No. 1 seed Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 last month. On the doubles front, Liezel Huber, currently ranked No. 1, is a four-time Grand Slam champion, recently winning the US Open with doubles partner Cara Black. Melanie Oudin comes into this weekend’s match after an impressive quarterfinal run in Quebec City before losing to fellow Fed Cup teammate Bethanie Mattek, and winning her first professional title at the USTA Pro Circuit in Lexington, Kent., in July.

The Czech Republic last reached the Fed Cup semifinals in 1997. The Czechs enter this weekends match after defeating Spain 4-1 in Brno, Czech Republic to mark the first World Group win for the Czech team since 2000. The team is captioned by Petr Pala and features four of the Czech Republic’s tennis stars including Iveta Benesova, Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova and Kveta Peschke.

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