Fernandez and Bouchard to open for Canada against Switzerland in Fed Cup Qualifiers

The official draw for the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifier between Canada and Switzerland was held on Thursday to determine the match-ups for this weekend’s action. The teams will face off on an indoor hard court at the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel, Switzerland on February 7 and 8, with the winner advancing to inaugural Fed Cup Finals in Budapest and the losing nation moving down to the Play-Offs.

The Canadian Fed Cup team, consisting of Leylah Annie Fernandez (Laval, QC), Eugenie Bouchard (Montreal, QC) Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON) and Bianca Andreescu (Mississauga, ON) as well as Canadian Team Captain Heidi El Tabakh will take on Switzerland in two singles matches on Friday and two singles matches followed by a doubles match on Saturday.

Fernandez and Bouchard were selected by El Tabakh to play singles, whilst Swiss Captain Heinz Günthardt nominated Belinda Bencic and Jil Teichmann, ranked No. 5 and No. 68 in the world respectively. In doubles, Gabriela Dabrowski and Bianca Andreescu will team up for Canada against the Swiss duo of Viktorija Golubic, ranked No. 142 in doubles, and Stefanie Voegele, ranked No. 99 in singles.

“We know that we are facing a tough opponent in this tie,” commented El Tabakh. “Switzerland has proven over the years that they can be a very dangerous team and they have a deep pool of talented players. It will not be an easy test for our team but we know we are up to the challenge. We have been working hard all week and our players are looking forward to competing on-court and representing Canada.”

Competing in just her second Fed Cup tie, Fernandez is currently ranked No. 185 on the WTA Tour. Meanwhile, Bouchard is ranked No. 267 and is taking part in her 11^th tie for Team Canada. She holds an impressive 12-4 record in singles action with her most recent victory coming in the team’s 2018 3-2 win over Ukraine. In doubles, Dabrowski and Andreescu will take to the court as the No. 7-ranked player in doubles and No. 6-ranked player in singles respectively.

Today’s draw produced the following weekend match-ups:

The first singles match starts at 2:00 p.m. local time on Friday, February 7th and will be followed by the second singles rubber. The last two singles matches will get underway at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 8th, and will be followed by the doubles match. All the matches are best of three sets.

Team Canada is attempting to reach the inaugural Fed Cup Finals for the first time. They lead the head-to-head series against Switzerland 3-2 but their most recent meeting concluded in a 3-2 win for Switzerland in 2004.

All matches from the tie will be broadcast live in Canada in English on Sportsnet One and French on TVA Sports.