Germany have replaced the United States in next month's Fed Cup women's team finals, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said today.
The defending champions pulled out of the competition, scheduled for Madrid from November 7th-11th, last Thursday because of security concerns after the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington and the subsequent US-led strikes in Afghanistan.
Germany, as one of the four losing nations from the play-offs, were given first refusal as they have the highest combined ranking of their top two players.
Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Argentina, Russia and Australia are the other teams in the event.
The seven nations must name their teams later today, but Germany have been given an extended deadline of November 1st.
