MADRID, Sept 12: Russia hope the loss of Maria Sharapova, as well as Olympic gold and silver medal winners Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, will not shatter their Fed Cup title defence against Spain.

Russia, bidding for a fourth Fed Cup trophy, will be relying instead on world number seven, and former US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova as well as Beijing bronze medal winner Vera Zvonereva to lead their challenge.

Sharapova, who made her Russian Fed Cup debut in the quarter-final win over Israel, has been out of action with a shoulder injury since August while Dementieva, the world number four, and Safina, the world’s fifth-ranked player, are skipping the final.

Both are playing in Tokyo from Monday and both are nurturing ambitions of capturing the top ranking in the world.

“I think myself and my body are much more important than just going out there and just forcing yourself,” said Safina, a semi-finalist at the US Open last week.

“I flew from the States to China, from China back to the States. The body is very sensitive to these kind of things, so I had better take care of myself and prepare for the rest of the season.

“They are playing on a clay court, and it really doesn’t fit anywhere in my schedule.”

Spain, who beat China in the semi-finals, are appearing in their 11th Fed Cup final, having won the title five times. However, their last win was 10 years ago.

Their top player is world number 29 Anabel Medina Garrigues, who was a silver medallist in the women’s doubles at the Olympics with Virginia Ruano Pascual, the only survivor from the 1998 team.

Spain will also have Carla Suarez Navarro, a shock quarter-finalist at the French Open this year, on singles duty.—AFP