2007 Zonal Groups

[janie]

www.sportinglife.com/tennis/n...S_Fed_Cup.html

Anne Keothavong gained sweet revenge over world number 86 Tsvetana Pironkova as Great Britain made a winning start to their Fed Cup Euro-Africa Zone I campaign in Plovdiv on Wednesday.

Keothavong's 5-7 6-4 6-3 win contributed to a 3-0 whitewash of hosts Bulgaria which leaves captain Nigel Sears' team in with a chance of progressing through the round-robin phase to Saturday's play-off.

Keothavong had been hammered 6-1 6-1 by the same player in the same competition last year and Sears said: "Anne played really aggressively and struck the ball well and it was a great win for her.

"If Anne keeps playing like she played today she will be playing in the top 100 soon.

"I am delighted with the start we have made and it gives us confidence for the next two games."

Elena Baltacha had got the British team off to a winning start after clawing back a 3-0 final set deficit to defeat world number 285 Dia Etimova 4-6 6-4 8-6.

Baltacha, who spent five months of last year out following a back operation, then teamed up with Belfast doubles expert Claire Curran to easily see off Dessislava Mladenova and Jaklin Alawi 6-4 6-2.

Baltacha will be rested for Thursday's match against Luxembourg, with Naomi Cavaday stepping in for her Fed Cup debut and Keothavong likely to meet world number 100 Anne Kremer.

Victory would push Sears' team into a Friday decider against group favourites Poland, with the prize at stake a Saturday play-off. A win there would earn Great Britain a World Group II qualifying play-off in July

[janie]

Colombia vs Puerto Rico:

Castaño def Brandi 6/1-6/1
Duque Marino def Castellvi 5/7-6/4-6/4 Olé Mariana!

[janie]

Hong Kong vs Uzbekhistan:

Wing-Yau Venise Chan(HKG) d. Iroda Tulyaganova(UZB) 63 16 75
Ling Zhang(HKG) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 63 63

Khabibulina/Saidkhodjaeva(UZB) d. Lam/Tong(HKG) 62 57 3-3 (Retired : Tong right ankle)

[Grarliner]

Wow, the Uzbeks down in flames.

Keothavong!

[janie]

Chile vs Brazil:

Andrea Koch (Ch) a Jennifer Widjaja por 6-2 y 6-1
Melisa Miranda (Ch) a Maria Fernanda Alves por 7-5 y 6-2
Larissa Carvalho-Teliana Pereira (Br) a Andrea Koch-Catalina Arancibia por 6-2 y 6-4

[corswandt]

No reference to Portugal's triumphant Indian Ocean campaign, probably the first since the mid-16th century?

www.fedcup.com/ties/ea2.asp

[Brinyi]

janie said:

Chile vs Brazil:

Andrea Koch (Ch) a Jennifer Widjaja por 6-2 y 6-1
Melisa Miranda (Ch) a Maria Fernanda Alves por 7-5 y 6-2
Larissa Carvalho-Teliana Pereira (Br) a Andrea Koch-Catalina Arancibia por 6-2 y 6-4

[Brinyi]

Anne K!

[janie]

I hate to rain on Brinyi's happy parade, but:
Luxembourg def Great Britain 2:1

Mandy Minella d. Naomi Cavaday 4:6 7:6(4) 6:4
Anne Kremer d. Anne Keothavong 6:3 6:3 Oh happy day for the TRUE Anne K!

Anne Kremer/Lynn Philippe lost to Elena Baltacha/Claire Curran 4:6 6:3 3:6

No word from Nigel yet ... ;D

[janie]

corswandt said:

No reference to Portugal's triumphant Indian Ocean campaign, probably the first since the mid-16th century?

www.fedcup.com/ties/ea2.asp

[Brinyi]

janie said:

I hate to rain on Brinyi's happy parade, but:
Luxembourg def Great Britain 2:1

Mandy Minella d. Naomi Cavaday 4:6 7:6(4) 6:4
Anne Kremer d. Anne Keothavong 6:3 6:3 Oh happy day for the TRUE Anne K!

[corswandt]

janie said:

Mandy Minella d. Naomi Cavaday 4:6 7:6(4) 6:4

The svelte Ms. Minella seemed to be on the way to great things (like say cracking the top 200) last year, but then got a bad injury and missed out on more than half of the season. Maybe she's back on track.

[janie]

Some interesting ties:

Brazil d. Mexico: (but where was Widjaja?)

T .PEREIRA (BRA) def. D. MUNOZ-GALLEGOS (MEX) 6-2 6-0
M.TORRES-SANDOVAL (MEX) def. M.ALVES (BRA) 6-4 6-7(4) 6-3
L.CARVALHO / T.PEREIRA (BRA) def. E.CLARKE-MAGANA / D.MUNOZ-GALLEGOS (MEX)
6-0 6-4

Denmark d. Netherlands:

N.THYSSEN (NED) def. H.JENSEN (DEN) 6-0 6-4
C.WOZNIACKI (DEN) def. E.TAMAELA (NED) 6-2 6-1
E.DYRBERG / C.WOZNIACKI (DEN) def. E.TAMAELA / N.THYSSEN (NED)
4-6 6-3 6-4

Great Britain d. Bulgaria:
E.BALTACHA (GBR) def. D.EVTIMOVA (BUL) 4-6 6-4 8-6
A.KEOTHAVONG (GBR) def. T.PIRONKOVA (BUL) 5-7 6-4 6-3
E.BALTACHA / C.CURRAN (GBR) def. J.ALAWI / D.MLADENOVA (BUL)
6-4 6-2

[janie]

Oh, and Portugal advances to Group I in their zone, following this lopsided play-off tie against "where's Daniilidou" Greece:

N.SILVA (POR) def. A.KAPLANI (GRE) 6-2 6-0
F.PIEDADE (POR) def. A.GERASIMOU (GRE) 6-2 6-2
F.PIEDADE / N.SILVA (POR) v A.GERASIMOU / A.KAPLANI (GRE) Not played

[corswandt]

janie said:

Oh, and Portugal advances to Group I in their zone, following this lopsided play-off tie against "where's Daniilidou" Greece:

N.SILVA (POR) def. A.KAPLANI (GRE) 6-2 6-0
F.PIEDADE (POR) def. A.GERASIMOU (GRE) 6-2 6-2
F.PIEDADE / N.SILVA (POR) v A.GERASIMOU / A.KAPLANI (GRE) Not played

So much for all the "we need Michelle" talk on the local mentideros. It was obvious that, to beat up on those hopeless scrubs, Neuza Silva and Piedade were more than enough. Mission accomplished.

[Brinyi]

janie said:

(but where was Widjaja?)

Judging from her first match score I don't want to know. Well done by juvenil Teliana Pereira!

Eva D.

[Edna Krabappel]

Europe/Africa zone play-offs:

Serbia vs Romania
Ukraine vs Poland

Jankovic's scores so far are 6-1 6-3 (vs Ruutel) , 6-2 6-0 (vs Arvidsson) and 6-1 6-0 (vs Klepac). Unfortunately the rest of the team is terrible. But, maybe they'll have a chance against Romania.

[janie]

Uzbekistan d. Singapore3-0

Neither Akgul nor Iroda played in this tie, and they weren't missed. Canada's (& Harvard's) Beier Ko played for Singapore.

[freudo]

the itf site doesn't show any livescores how cheap can a site be