Kvitova, Safarova miss Fed Cup SF

Czech Fed Cup stalwart Petra Kvitova will miss the holders' semi-final clash in Switzerland later this month.

The former Wimbledon champion's absence was confirmed when team nominations were published on Wednesday.

In recent times, Kvitova has been the key player for the Czechs, who have won the trophy in four of the last five years.

With Czech number two Lucie Safarova, who is yet to win a match in 2016 after suffering from a bacterial infection at the end of last season, also out, world number 18 Karolina Pliskova will lead the team with Barbora Strycova, Lucie Hradecka and Denisa Allertova also in the team for the Lucerne tie.

In contrast, the Swiss will be at full strength with top-20 stars Belinda Bencic and Timea Bacsinszky set for singles duty. World doubles number one Martina Hingis and Viktorija Golubic make up the team.

In the other semi-final, France will start favourites at home to the Netherlands, despite the Dutch's stunning upset of Russia in round one.

The hosts, looking to reach the final for the first time in 11 years, have named a strong side with three top-50 players chosen by captain Amelie Mauresmo.

They will be led by world number 29 Kiki Mladenovic. She will be backed up by Caroline Garcia and Alize Cornet, with Pauline Parmentier completing the line-up for the claycourt tie in Trelaze.

The Dutch are unchanged from the team which won 4-1 in Moscow in February with Kiki Bertens, winner of two rubbers in that clash, their only top-100 ranked player. She is the world number 96.

Richel Hogenkamp, Arantxa Rus and Cindy Burger are the other members of Paul Haarhuis' team.

A host of top-10 players will turn out in the World Group play-offs in which places in the competition's 2017 top tier will be at stake - but world number one Serena Williams will now be among them.

Romania's Simona Halep and Germany's Angelique Kerber, ranked sixth and second respectively, are due to face off in Cluj, while fourth-ranked Garbine Muguruza will line-up for Spain against Italy, who include world number eight Roberta Vinci, in Lleida.

Recent Miami and Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka, now back into the world's top five, is included for Belarus' trip to Russia.

Meanwhile, Daria Gavrilova will make her debut for Australia when they host the Williams-less USA.

The Russian-born Gavrilova was recently granted permission by the ITF to compete under the Australian flag and makes their team significantly stronger.

She is expected to play singles along with Sam Stsour, with Casey Dellacqua and Arina Rodionova set for the doubles on clay in Brisbane.

With Williams and her sister Venus both missing from the team, Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe look set to play singles for the visitors.

In the World Group II play-offs, world number three Agnieszka Radwanska returns to the Poland team for their clash with Chinese Taipei.

Any European losers in the World Group II play-offs will be relegated to Europe/Africa Group I for 2017 where Great Britain would be potential opponents.

All the ties take place from April 16-17.