Russian captain Anastasia Myskina has named a severely under-strength team to take on Australia in the upcoming Fed Cup tennis tie in Hobart.
Russia have six players ranked in the top 35 on the WTA tour, headed by four-time major winner and world No.5 Maria Sharapova.
But none of that half-dozen have made themselves available for the February 8-9 tie and nor have any of Russia's next seven players on the world rankings.
Their team is instead headed by little-known world No.160 Victoria Kan, who sits below Australians Samantha Stosur (17), Casey Dellacqua (80) and Ashleigh Barty (155) on the WTA rankings.
The only member of the four-strong Russian team to have played Fed Cup before is teenager Irina Khromacheva, who filled the second singles spot in last year's final loss to Italy.
But Australian captain Alicia Molik insisted her team would not be taking the Russians lightly in the world group tie.
"It's easy to look at the rankings alone and think that because we have the higher-ranked players we should be firm favourites to win," said Molik.
"We have a strong team and I certainly expect the girls to do well.
"But in Fed Cup you can never look at rankings alone.
"Sometimes it's harder to play players that are unknown and you can't ever afford to under-estimate the opposition.
"You have to go out there expecting top performances, and in my experience I think Fed Cup and Davis Cup always brings out the best in players."
Australia was beaten in the first round of the Fed Cup last year by the Czech Republic.
But they retained their spot in the elite level for 2014 after downing Switzerland 3-1 in a playoff.
Share
