Tennis Channel to Air Fed Cup Final Between USA and Belarus

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9, 2017 -Tennis Channel will have exclusive, live coverage of the 2017 Fed Cup championship between the United States and Belarus in Minsk, Belarus, this weekend, with telecasts Saturday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov. 12. US Open champion Sloane Stephens leads US Open semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers and Alison Riske as the team attempts to capture its first title in 17 years.  The United States holds more Fed Cup titles than any other nation, winning 17 Fed Cup championships between 1963 and 2000.

The year-ending competition between the United States and first-time Fed Cup finalist Belarus will consist of two singles matches on Saturday, and two singles matches and a doubles match Sunday. Tennis Channel’s coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET on Saturday and 6 a.m. ET on Sunday.

The United States and Belarus have faced each once beforein Fed Cup play, with the Americans winning that first-round competition in 2012. However, the United States has not won a Fed Cup championship since 2000, when it defeated Russia 5-0 in Las Vegas.

Tennis Channel’s live Fed Cup Final coverageis as follows (all time ET):

6:30a.m. –Singles #1 (followed by Singles #2)

6a.m. –Singles #3 (followed by Singles #4 and Doubles)

Tennis Channel’s Los Angeles studio will be the central hub for all 2017 Fed Cup championship action this weekend. Emmy Award-winning sportscaster Mary Carillo will call the matches alongside Hall of Famers and former U.S. Fed Cup players Tracy Austin (@thetracyaustin) and Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76). During Austin’s Fed Cup career, she contributed to U.S. team championships from 1978-1980 and Davenport added championships in 1996, 1999 and 2000.

As a player, U.S. Fed Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1985 and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 7 in 1986. At this year’s US Open Stephens captured her first Grand Slam title by defeating fellow American Madison Keys. Vandeweghe also had an impressive run at the US Open, with wins over 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova and former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova en route to the semifinals. She enters this weekend’s match after recently losing to Julia Goerges in the WTA Elite Trophy finals in China. Rogers won the longest women’s singles match in US Open history this year when she beat Daria Gavrilova to advance to the third round at the US Open. Riske fell to fellow Fed Cup teammate Vandeweghe in the first round at the 2017 US Open.

Belarus enters its first Fed Cup final after an impressive 3-2 victory over Switzerland in the semifinals. The Belarusian team is captained by Eduard Dubrou and features Aryna Sabalenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Vera Lapko and Lidziya Marozava.

Viewers can also catch Fed Cup matches in their entirety on Tennis Channel Plus, the digital subscription service available to everybody in the United States, regardless of whether they currently subscribe to the television network.