Jankovic will open for Serbia against Russia

Moscow, Russia – Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic will be first up for Serbia on Saturday in its Fed Cup semifinal against host Russia.

The world No. 18 Jankovic will take on 22nd-ranked Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening singles rubber in the best-of-five tie, while the second match on Day 1 will pit former French Open champion and another former Serbian world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, against two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sunday's reverse singles on the indoor red clay at Moscow's Sports Palace will pit Ivanovic against Pavlyuchenkova and Jankovic versus Kuznetsova, while Sunday's doubles rubber has a Russian duo of Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina taking on a Serbian tandem of Bojana Jovanovski and Aleksandra Krunic.

Team Serbia is captained by Dejan Vranes, while the Russians are guided by long-time mentor Shamil Tarpischev.

The four-time champion Russians beat the Serbs, who have never won the Fed Cup title, in a first-round affair two years ago.

The Russia-Serbia winner will meet the Czech Republic-Italy victor in the 2012 Fed Cup final in November.