Fed Cup: Romania v Great Britain - pen pics

21 April 2017 04:39

Romania and Great Britain's Fed Cup teams will do battle over the weekend in Constanta for a place in World Group II.

Both teams feature top-10 players in Simona Halep and Johanna Konta, with Britain looking to reach the elite level of the competition for the first time since 1993.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at the players who will be competing at the Tenis Club IDU.

ROMANIA

Simona Halep

This will be a special weekend for the 25-year-old, who is playing a match in her home city for the first time since she was a junior. Halep has been a consistent top-10 player for several years and is particularly at home on clay, having reached her only grand slam final at the French Open in 2014. Halep's form this year has not been great and she lost to Konta in her last match at the Miami Open.

Irina-Camelia Begu

The 26-year-old, Romania's second singles player, is ranked 33rd having reached a career high of 22 last summer. She made the quarter-finals of her most recent tournament in Charleston on clay two weeks ago and reached the fourth round of the French Open last year.

Monica Niculescu

Niculescu, 29, is Romania's third-highest-ranked player at 47 but is likely only to play doubles in this tie. She has one of the most unusual styles of play among current players, using predominantly forehand slice.

Sorana Cirstea

Cirstea will team up with Niculescu for the doubles rubber on Sunday, which would decide the tie if it is level at 2-2. The 27-year-old was a French Open quarter-finalist back in 2009 and has worked her way back into the top 100 after serious shoulder problems.

GREAT BRITAIN

Johanna Konta

The 25-year-old continues to make waves in the world of women's tennis and is at a career-high ranking of number seven after winning the biggest title of her career in Miami. Konta's powerful game has helped her beat most of the top 10, including Halep twice. She made her Fed Cup debut in 2013 after switching nationality from her native Australia and has a 6-6 record in singles.

Heather Watson

Watson has had a difficult year, slipping to 113 in the rankings, which will almost certainly see her miss out on direct qualification for the French Open. But she likes clay and has an excellent record in Fed Cup, with 25 wins and only seven losses across singles and doubles. In the group stage in February, she only lost 12 games in four singles matches.

Laura Robson

The former top-30 player continues to make slow progress after seeing her career cruelly halted by wrist problems. Still only 23, Robson is currently ranked 202 and, barring injury, will only play doubles this weekend.

Jocelyn Rae

The fourth member of Britain's team, 26-year-old Rae, who stands 6ft 2in tall, is a doubles specialist. She won the gold medal in mixed doubles for Scotland alongside Colin Fleming at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and has played 12 doubles rubbers for Britain in Fed Cup, winning nine.

Source: PA