The Austrian Fed Cup captain Jürgen Waber has nominated his team for the European/African Group I tournament in Tallinn/Estonia. Barbara Haas leads the team, and Julia Grabher will also be there again.
Pia König and Melanie Klaffner are also present in the Baltic States. The goal at the event, which took place from 07. till 10. The first day of February is class retention. Tamira Paszek still suffers from a persistent nervous illness and therefore cannot take part in the long fight.
The group games will be played in two groups of four or three. From the four group winners, two teams will be selected to qualify for the World Group Playoffs in April. The last in each group must play against relegation to Europe/Africa Zone 1, Group II. Two teams descend. The third-place finishers in the groups of four do not play any placing games.
Last year, the team lost 2-1 to Poland in Tallinn and won 2-1 against Georgia. In the placing game there was a 2:1 defeat against host Estonia, the team finished the tournament in 5th place and “Matchwinner” was the current Austrian number one Barbara Haas with three points in the single and one point in the doubles with Julia Grabher.
Haas will be competing this week at the Australian Open qualification draw, which will be held on Wednesday. Grabher has decided not to start in Down Under and will play the ITF tournament at Daytona Beach in Florida.
The Austrian Davis Cup team will play in the first round of the Europa/Africa Zone on 02. and 03. February in St. Stephen Pölten versus Belarus.