[54] Following the win, Smylie and Stubbs ended up beating Huber and Barbara Rittner in doubles to ultimately defeat the Germans and create the first ever first-round loss for a defending champion in Fed Cup history.
[12] Annabel Ellwood[76] and Kerry-Anne Guse[77] joined the team alongside McQuillan and Kristine Kunce (née Radford),[66][78][79] and while they had a victory over South Africa which included an upset of Top 15 player Amanda Coetzer[80] on behalf Top 120 player McQuillan,[81] they could not defeat Spain in the World Group play-offs,[82] despite playing on home soil,[83] and thus did not achieve an opportunity to win the Fed Cup in the World Group.
Their tie, drawn against Argentina and held at Canberra, featured a return of McQuillan and Guse[88] but also a debut of Nicole Pratt[89] and junior star[90] Jelena Dokic.
[104][105] This meant that, although efforts were made to keep her,[106] she opted out of playing for future Fed Cup ties with the country,[107] meaning Australian women's tennis was still without any sight of breaking its two-decade drought of any players within the top ten.
[123] However, due a withdrawal by the defending champions from the United States caused by terrorist threats following the September 11 attacks,[124] the group ended up consisting of Spain, Russia and America's replacement Germany.
[131][132] However, Clijsters pulled out of further ties due to a shoulder injury, which led to hope for Australia after Pratt defeated her replacement Els Callens in straight sets.
[155] Molik stated she voluntarily withdrew, despite being Australia's highest ranked singles player,[75] to concentrate on the upcoming Athens Olympics,[155][156] while Stubbs' omission, in spite of winning a second Wimbledon doubles title the week before the tie, was said to be put down to "a clash of personalities".
[75][209] Captain David Taylor thus stated he "liked the chances" of winning, despite Austria having a home court advantage and boasting recent WTA tour winners in Sybille Bammer and Tamira Paszek.
[218] Nevertheless, Molik, alongside Italian Mara Santangelo, ended up winning the French Open in doubles, and defeated the Ukrainian Bondarenko sisters Alona and Kateryna on her way to the Wimbledon semifinals.
[225] The team then ultimately lost the tie, sending them back to the Asia/Oceania Zone for 2008, with Pratt losing to Alona in the third rubber, and Molik and Stubbs falling in doubles despite a lone singles win from Dellacqua.
[230][231][232][233] Nevertheless, the same Fed Cup team used for the tie against Switzerland was picked for the upcoming zonal competition, with Molik, Pratt, Stubbs, and Dellacqua, who was continuing to replace a still-ill Stosur[234] and had been granted a wildcard for the January hardcourt season,[235] being selected.
[248][249][250] Junior Jessica Moore replaced Pratt in the team[251][252] after increasing her ranking by four-hundred places to within the top 300 following a successful Australian Open campaign.
[258][259] The Australians were then stunned by Indonesia, the lowest-ranked team in the pool,[260] after Moore, replacing the injured Molik, fell to Ayu-Fani Damayanti and Dellacqua was defeated by Sandy Gumulya despite being ranked two hundred places above her.
[293] This allowed Australia to advance to the zone group final against New Zealand,[288] which they won after Dokic and Stosur respectively defeated Dianne Hollands and Marina Erakovic in singles and Dellacqua and Stubbs beat Shona Lee and Kairangi Vano in doubles.
[300][301] While Stosur was positive about her form and stated she was expecting future entry to the singles World Top 10,[301] Dokic admitted that she had been suffering from fatigue in the recent months since the Australian Open.
[304][305] The tie was then secured for Australia after Stosur beat Vögele in the third rubber, despite Jessica Moore falling to 15-year-old Mateja Kraljevic and the final doubles match being abandoned.
[309][310] Jarmila Groth (née Gajdošová[311]), former top sixty singles player, also joined the Fed Cup team after finally being made eligible for competition; her acceptance was regarded as a great addition.
[359][361][362] Stosur ended up being picked as a single for the actual team, alongside Groth, who won a tournament in Hobart just prior to Fed Cup,[363] with Rodionova and Stubbs chosen for doubles.
[364][365] The Italian team comprised Schiavone, Australian Open doubles champion[366] and top twenty singles player[75] Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
[375][376] This led to captain David Taylor requesting for other top Australians players, such as Dokic, Molik, Dellacqua and young Olivia Rogowska to press for selection.
[377] Stosur began the European claycourt season as defender of over two thousand ranking points,[378] which led to her withdrawing from the upcoming World Group play-offs[379] held in Melbourne against Ukraine.
[380] Dokic also withdrew from the tie following her win of the Malaysian Open,[381] meaning that the team included Groth, Rodionova, Ferguson and 19-year-old debutante Sally Peers.
[383] Groth defeated Savchuk, who stated she succumbed to nerves, in less than fifty minutes, but Rodionova was handily upset by Tsurenko in straight sets despite being sixty ranking places ahead of her.
[391] In the Grand Slams following the Fed Cup losses, Stosur disappointed in her performances by losing in the third round of the French Open and failing to a win a match at Wimbledon.
[409] Stosur began the tie by defeating Bacsinszky, who was making a comeback from a ten-month injury lay-off,[410] in straight sets, before Gajdošová was overcome by Vögele, 0–6, 7–6(10–8), 6–8, after eight match points.
[12][416] Despite the win, Stosur's coach David Taylor refused to make the top five player commit to the upcoming tie in April to alleviate her stress, a decision that was met with scrutiny by some in the Australian media.
[424] The Germans selected an in-form Kerber and Görges to lead their team, with Petkovic also playing despite recovering from a back injury, and Anna-Lena Grönefeld entering as a doubles specialist.
[427] In spite of being termed the underdogs of the tie,[428] the Australian team defied expectations and gained an early lead, as Stosur easily defeated Kerber[429] and Gajdošová took an upset straight sets win over Görges.
[463][464] Australia nominated an unchanged team for the tie,[465] despite Stosur damaging her calf muscle just before the Miami event in March,[466] with Storm Sanders being chosen as "orange girl" after her good results in the ITF Circuit.
[476][479] This led to Australia's first consecutive World Group appearance since 2004[12] and Molik stating that Barty, who turned seventeen two days after the tie, could be key to future Australian Fed Cup success.