Eugenie Bouchard, Aleksandra Wozniak, Françoise Abanda and Sharon Fichman to make up Fed Cup team headed to Slovakia next week

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Canadian Fed Cup captain Sylvain Bruneau has gone with four singles players – Genie Bouchard, Aleksandra Wozniak, Sharon Fichman and Françoise Abanda – to face Slovakia in the Fed Cup World Group II tie April 16-17 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The winner of that tie remains in World Group II for 2017 (the top eight teams in the world are in World Group II, the next eight in World Group II). Canada is currently ranked No. 14. The loser is relegated to the zonal competition, from which they must try to fight their way back up to the big leagues once again.

Canada will face a Slovakian team upgraded from the squad that came to Quebec City two years ago, which was without former top-10 player Dominika Cibulkova. Bouchard and Wozniak swept through the first three singles rubbers to clinch the tie.

Cibulkova will be there this time around, joined by Schmiedlova, Jana Cepelova and 17-year-old Tereza Mihalikova.

For Canada, Bouchard's return will give a boost to the entire team, which isn't without its question marks. Wozniak, who is on the comeback trail after having shoulder surgery in Sept. 2014, has been on the shelf with a foot problem since losing in the final round of qualifying at Indian Wells a month ago. She is practicing again, though, and is in Montreal training on the indoor Har-Tru courts at Uniprix Stadium.

Fichman, a Davis Cup veteran and by far the best doubles player of the four, was not selected for the tie against Belarus. Ranked No. 77 in the world less than two years ago, she's out of the top 300 and has been playing the qualifying at smaller events so far in 2016.

Abanda has raised her ranking nearly 100 spots in recent weeks (she was down near No. 350) with good play at $25,000 ITF tournaments, notably in Irapuato, Mexico. The 19-year-old won the title there, her second pro title, a little over two weeks ago.

Not selected was Gabriela Dabrowski, the highest-ranked doubles player in the country at No. 51. Dabrowski is here in Charleston playing with Darija Jurak of Croatia. The new pair defeated the powerhouse singles duo of Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens Tuesday – easily, thus proving great singles players don't necessarily make great doubles players.

The highest-ranked player for Slovakia with Cibulkova making her way back from an Achilles injury is Anna Schmiedlova, who received a lot of attention at the end of last season as she reached a career high of No. 26 and posted great results after Wimbledon and during the Asian swing in the fall. She's currenty at No. 31 but in 2016, she has all of one victory on the WTA Tour in eight tournaments. That one win came in early January before the Australian Open. The No. 2 seed at the WTA tournament in Poland this week was trounced 6-2, 6-0 by French journeywoman Pauline Parmentier Wednesday. Schmiedlova also has one victory in Fed Cup.

Cepelova, the third member, is a former finalist here in Charleston who has since fallen out of the top 100 and squeaked into the main draw here as a lucky loser. She won her first-round match against Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, who struggled with a thigh injury after winning the first set.