MONTREAL -- Francoise Abanda has withdrawn from Canada's upcoming Fed Cup competition in Mexico due to a back injury, Tennis Canada said Tuesday in a release.
Captain Sylvain Bruneau has called up Toronto's Katherine Sebov to replace the Montreal player at the Feb. 6-11 event at Club Deportivo la Asuncion in Metepec.
"It's unfortunate that Francoise will miss the event, especially since she has always done well in Fed Cup," said Bruneau. "Katherine is part of the next generation of young players and has recently had excellent results at the professional level. This will be her first Fed Cup appearance and I'm very happy to have her join our team."
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Blainville, Que., round out the Canadian lineup.
The top-seeded Canadians are in Pool A of Americas Zone Group I with Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela. The round-robin winner will play the winner from the five-team Pool B to determine which nation will advance to the World Group II playoffs.
Canada lost in the first round of World Group II play against Belarus last year and then fell to Slovakia in a World Group II playoff.
