O'Brien wins Fed Cup call-up

2:23pm Friday 11th January 2008

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British No 1 Katie O'Brien, originally left out of her country's Fed Cup squad, has received a late call-up.

The 21-year-old former Woodhouse Grove pupil has replaced Naomi Cavaday and will travel to Budapest later this month, alongside Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha and Mel South, to take part in the Euro/Africa Zone Group One event.

O'Brien, voted the British female player of the year for 2007 in the LTA awards, achieved a career-high ranking of 121 in July thanks to reaching the last 16 of the WTA event in Eastbourne, followed by her maiden main-draw win at Wimbledon.

Cavaday, who is only 18, had begun the 2008 season in New Zealand, recording back-to-back wins at the ASB Classic in Auckland before losing out to Asha Rolle in the final round of qualifying.

However, the left-hander had been struggling with an ankle injury throughout the later part of 2007 and this caused her Fed Cup withdrawal.

Team manager Nigel Sears said: "Obviously it is a great shame that Naomi has had to pull out of the Fed Cup squad but we have an excellent replacement in Katie.

"It was a very tough decision to leave her out of the initial squad and I am delighted to be able to call up a player of her quality.

"I am confident that the team will perform well in Budapest. It is important that Naomi is able to fully recover and I look forward to seeing her back on the court soon."

Meanwhile, O'Brien made a great start in her bid to qualify for the Australian Open women's singles. The 15th seed defeated Darya Kustova (Belarus) 6-3, 1-0 retired in the first round.

Anna Fitzpatrick, another Old Grovian, lost in the second round of qualifying for the $25,000 St Leo tournament in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Having defeated Megan Alexander (United States) 7-6, 6-1, the second seed surprisingly bowed out to Alexandra Anghelescu (United States) 6-2, 6-3.

In the first round of the women's doubles, Fitzpatrick and Stefania Boffa (Switzerland) lost 7-5, 6-1 to second seeds Veronika Chvojkova (Czech Republic) and Liga Dekmeijere (Latvia).

Huddersfield's Danielle Brown, off the women's tour since last May, has received a wild card into the main draw for next week's $10,000 LTA Ladies' event in Sunderland, as has Old Grovian Naomi Broady.

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