Maria Sharapova will face Tzipi Obziler in her Fed Cup debut when defending champion Russia plays Israel in the first round on Saturday.

The Australian Open champion was drawn on Thursday to face Obziler in the second singles match of the best-of-five tie.

"I just hope I can figure out her game as soon as possible and come out with a win," said Sharapova, who has never met Obziler.

After Fed Cup, Maria will play the following events:
Qatar Total Open in Doha (feb 18)
Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai (feb 25)
Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells (march 10)
Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.(march 24)

Doha will begin on February 18th and Dubai will begin the week after.  Maria didn't play either event last year and her best result in both was winning Doha in 2005 and reaching the final in Dubai in 2006.

Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova will make her Fed Cup debut for Russia in their quarter-final tie against Israel on Saturday.
Sharapova will join Elena Vesnina, Anna Chakvetadze and Dinara Safina as they travel to Israel on 2-3 February.

And she insists that talk of her being disliked by her team-mates after repeatedly pulling out of Fed Cup squads is off the mark.

"The majority of us have a wonderful relationship, we do," said Sharapova.

Maria Sharapova has had little time to savour her Australian Open victory.

The Russian travelled to Israel to make her debut in the Fed Cup, just days after beating Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 in Melbourne for her third Grand Slam title. "I want to be No. 1 again," the fifth-ranked Sharapova said Tuesday. "I want to win Grand Slams."

Sharapova, making her first visit to Israel, leads a powerful defending champion Russian team that also includes seventh-ranked Anna Chakvetadze, No. 16 Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina.

Russian newspapers on Monday sung the praises of Maria Sharapova for winning her third Grand Slam title on Saturday at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

"Keep it going!" headlined the front page of the country's oldest sports daily Soviet Sport as it reported on the year's opening Grand Slam event.

The newspaper also expressed the hope that Sharapova would make a winning start to her Fed Cup debut for title-holders Russia away to Israel in Tel Aviv later this week.