The Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane and the CEZ Arena in Ostrava will play host to the two Fed Cup by BNP Paribas semifinals taking place on the weekend of 19-20 April.
Australia has chosen to host Germany on an outdoor hard court at the home of the combined ATP and WTA Brisbane International event.
The venue, which is no stranger to world-class tennis, saw no less than five of the possible team members in singles action earlier this year as Ashleigh Barty, Casey Dellacqua, Angelique Kerber, Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic all warmed up for the Australian Open in Queensland.
“I’m thrilled we’ll be playing the Fed Cup semifinal at Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane,” said Australian captain Alicia Molik.
“It’s a fantastic venue and I’m sure we’ll get great support from the terrific tennis fans in Brisbane.”
Australia and Germany have met 12 times in Fed Cup, with Australia holding an 8-4 advantage. The most recent meeting was in 2012 in Stuttgart, with Australia winning the World Group play-off 3-2.
Tickets will be available from Ticketek later this month, with further details to be announced soon.
The CEZ Arena in Ostrava will host the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group semifinal tie between Czech Republic and Italy on 19-20 April.
It is the third consecutive year that these two nations have met at the semifinals stage of the Fed Cup competition and the same venue that was used in their last meeting on Czech soil, which took place in 2012.
Several other venues for the Fed Cup World Group and World Group II play-offs have also been announced.
Fed Cup returns to Quebec for Canada’s World Group play-off tie against Slovak Republic which will take place at Laval University in Quebec City.
Romania’s first World Group II play-off tie since 1999 will be staged by the Arenele BNR Stadium in Bucharest while Thailand will travel to Lidkoping to face Sweden. The Maaspoort Sports & Events Stadium will host the World Group II play-off tie between Netherlands and Japan.
The full list of venues is as follows:
World Group semifinals
Czech Republic v Italy – CEZ Arena, Ostrava (hard – indoors)
Australia v Germany – Queensland Tennis Centre, Brisbane (hard – outdoors)
World Group play-offs
Russia v Argentina – extension until 11 March
Canada v Slovak Republic – PEPS, Laval University, Quebec City (hard – indoors)
USA v France – tbc
Spain v Poland – extension until 15 March
World Group II play-offs
Romania v Serbia – Arenele BNR, Bucharest (clay – outdoors)
Netherlands v Japan – Maaspoort Sports & Events, ’s-Hertogenbosch (clay – indoors)
Sweden v Thailand – Sparbanken Lidkoping Arena , Lidkoping (hard – indoors)
Brazil v Switzerland – tbc
Read more at http://www.fedcup.com/en/news/172923.aspx#8ZLM9SmusDJMjcap.99
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