2008 Zonal Groups

[Brinyi]

Nominations for Group I Zonal Events

Official Nominations for the three Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Group I zonal events taking place during the week of 28 January in Thailand, Hungary and Colombia.


ASIA/OCEANIA ZONE GROUP I

Venue: National Tennis Development Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
Winning nation advances to World Group II Play-offs in April

AUSTRALIA
Alicia Molik, Nicole Pratt, Casey Dellacqua, Rennae Stubbs
Captain: David Taylor

CHINESE TAIPEI
Yung Jan Chan, Su-Wei Hsieh, Chin-Wei Chan, Chia-Jung Chuang
Captain: Shi-Ting Wang

INDONESIA
Sandy Gumulya, Lavinia Tananta, Ayu Fani Damayanti, Vivien Silfany
Captain: Suzanna Anggarkusuma

THAILAND
Tamarine Tanasugarn, Nudnida Luangnam, Suchanun Viratprasert, Napaporn Tongsalee
Captain: Pracharapol Khamsaman

UZBEKISTAN
Akgul Amanmuradova, Iroda Tulyaganova, Vlada Ekshibarova, Albina Khabibulina
Captain: Samuk Abidov

INDIA
Sania Mirza, Sunitha Rao, Isha Lakhani, Tara Iyer
Captain: Enrico Piperno

NEW ZEALAND
Marina Erakovic, Sacha Jones, Ellen Barry, Leanne Baker
Captain: David Lewis

HONG KONG, CHINA
Ling Zhang, Zi Jun Yang, Po Kuen Lam, Ka Po Tong
Captain: Yat Wai Venant Shum


EUROPE/AFRICA ZONE GROUP I

Venue: SYMA Sportkozpont, Budapest, Hungary
Top two nations advance to World Group II Play-offs in April

BELARUS
Viktoria Azarenka, Olga Govortsova, Tatiana Poutchek, Darya Kustova
Captain: Dmitri Tatur

BULGARIA
Tsvetana Pironkova, Dia Evtimova, Elitsa Kostova, Thunder Karatantcheva
Captain: Dora Rangelova

DENMARK
Caroline Wozniacki, Hanne-Skak Jensen, Karina Ildor Jacobsgaard, Eva Dyrberg
Captain: Maria Ramussen

GEORGIA
Oksana Kalashnikova, Sofia Kvatsabaia, Ekaterine Gorgodze, Tatia Mikadze
Captain: Lali Zerekidze

GREAT BRITAIN
Katie O’Brien, Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha, Melanie South
Captain: Nigel Sears

HUNGARY
Agnes Szavay, Greta Arn, Melinda Czink, Kyra Nagy
Captain: Robert Machan

LUXEMBOURG
Evil Anne Kremer, Evil Claudine Schaul, Evil Mandy Minella
Captain: Evil Alioune Toure

NETHERLANDS
Nicole Thyssen, Pauline Wong, Arantxa Rus, Renee Reinhard
Captain: Manon Bollegraf

POLAND
A-Rad, U-Rad, Katarzyna Piter, Alicja Rosolska (no Domachowska?)
Captain:Robert Piotr Radwanski

PORTUGAL
Neuza Silva, Magali De Lattre, Ana-Caterina Nogueira, Maria Joao Koehler
Captain: Pedro Cordeiro

ROMANIA
Iona-Raluca Olaru, Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea, Monica Niculescu, Simona Halep
Captain: Ruxandra Dragomir-Ilie

SERBIA
Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Ana Jovanovic, Teodora Mircic
Captain: Dejan Vranes

SLOVENIA
Andreja Klepac, Masa Zec-Peskiric, Polona Hercog, Diana Nakic
Captain: Iztok Bozic


Sofia Arvidsson, Johanna Larsson, Michaela Johansson, Nadja Roma
Captain: Maria Strandlund-Tomsvik

SWITZERLAND
Patty Schnyder, Emmanuelle Gagliardi, Stafanie Voegele, Nicole Riner
Captain: Christiane Jolissaint


AMERICAS ZONE GROUP I

Venue: Club Deportivo El Rodeo. Medellin, Colombia
Winning nation advances to World Group II Play-offs in April

BRAZIL
Teliana Pereira, Maria-Fernanda Alves, Fernanda Kuhnen Hermenegildo, Ana-Clara Duarte
Captain: Carlos-Jose Alves

CANADA
Stephanie Dubois, Aleksandra Wozniak, Marie-Eve Pelletier, Katerina Shulaeva
Captain: Rene Collins (she got married again!)

COLOMBIA
Catalina Castano, Mariana Duque-Marino, Viky Nunez Fuentes, Karen-Emelia Castiblanco-Duarte
Captain: Ignacio Arroyave

MEXICO
Melissa Torres-Sandoval, Daniela Munoz-Gallegos, Valeria Pulido, Erika Clarke-Magana
Captain: Graciela Velez

PARAGUAY
Adriana Pereira, Rossana De Los Rios, Veronica Cedepe Royg
Captain: Alfredo de Brix

PUERTO RICO
Kristina Brandi, Vilmarie Castellvi, Jessica Roland-Rosario, Paola Calderon
Captain: Juan-Carlos Escudero

URUGUAY
Maria-Eugenia Roca Recarey, Leticia Demichelli, Maria Eugenia Torres
Captain: Roberto Pavesio

[Brinyi]

Group II highlights:

The Rakhim sisters will lace them up for the Kazakhs
Kaia Kanepi, Maret Ani, Margit Ruutel lead power-packed Estonia
Aurelija Miseviciute is in action for Vaivathuania
No Senoglu for Turkey and no Daniilidou for Greece.

[Edna Krabappel]

Why is Great Arn representing Hungary all of a sudden? Because of the Olympics maybe?

[janie]

brinyi said:

Group II highlights:

The Rakhim sisters will lace them up for the Kazakhs
Kaia Kanepi, Maret Ani, Margit Ruutel lead power-packed Estonia
Aurelija Miseviciute is in action for Vaivathuania
No Senoglu for Turkey and no Daniilidou for Greece.

from Eggy: Fed Cup Euro/Africa Gp II
GROUP B:

Ireland vs Lithuania: 1-2

Anne Mall vs Aurelija Miseviciute 26 57
Kelly Liggan vs Lina Stanciute 46 26
Yvonne Doyle/Kelly Liggan vs Aurelija Miseviciute/Lina Stanciute 63 76

[sasha]

How cute is it that the 2 highest ranked singles players in the event are playing in the 3rd best group.

[Brinyi]

New Zealand in play-off, Australia knocked out at Fed Cup
6 hours ago

BANGKOK (AFP) — New Zealand will play Uzbekistan to compete for a place in the Fed Cup World Group II, after Australia on Friday narrowly failed to win a spot and a chance to return to the tournament's elite.

Australia beat India in singles and doubles on Friday, but the victory in Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I wasn't enough to make the play-offs that will determine who advances to the World Group, while rivals New Zealand defeated Indonesia, giving them top position..

Kiwi Sacha Jones defeated Ayu Fani Damayanti while Marina Erakovic beat Sandy Gumulya in the singles. Erakovic later paired with Leanne Baker to win over Indonesian pair Lavinia Tananta and Vivien Silfany, all in straight sets.

New Zealand captain David Lewis predicted his team could win Saturday's match.

"We are a strong and good team. We want to win and we believe we can go for it," he said.

Although Australia defeated India, the team didn't have enough wins to make it into the play-off.

"I am extremely disappointed," Australian captain David Taylor said, adding his team's surprise loss to Indonesia on Thursday had been the difference.

Uzbekistan progressed after defeating Hong Kong.

Albina Khabibulina beat Lam Po-kuen in the first singles game, before Zhang Ling tied for Hong Kong. Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova and Akgul Amanmuradova clinched the win with a victory in the doubles.

Uzbekistan defeated New Zealand in their last meeting, in South Korea two years ago.

The winner between New Zealand and Uzbekistan will be promoted to the World Group in 2009.

Hong Kong and India, both with three losses, will play each other to determine which nation will be relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II.

In Group II, Kazakhstan will play South Korea. The winner will promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I.

[Brinyi]

That historic Indon win:

Jessica Moore (replacing injured Molik) lost to Ayu Fani Damayanti, 6-3 6-4.

Sandy Gumulya def. Casey Dellacqua 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).

[janie]

Sandy

[DBBN]

So much good stuff is going on this week, but it's so hard to keep it all straight.

The most interesting result is Serbia making it to the World Group playoffs (shouldn't it be World Group II playoffs?? Hmmmm...) with a marathon escape against Ro(u)mania en route:

R1 - A.IVANOVIC (SRB) def. M.NICULESCU (ROU)
5-7 6-4 7-5
R2 - S.CIRSTEA (ROU) def. J.JANKOVIC (SRB)
6-3 3-6 6-4
R3 - A.IVANOVIC / J.JANKOVIC (SRB) def. S.CIRSTEA / M.NICULESCU (ROU)
2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(2)

Had they lost that, they would have lost their group to Ro(u)mania and languished in Zonal play for at least another year. But they won that, barely, and followed it up with a qualification win against the Netherlansds (including one A. Rus) to keep them moving forward...to wherever that might be...

[janie]

Jelena, that is BAD.

I'm glad Forehand Slice Niculescu made things difficult for everyone.

[Brinyi]

Pathetic Canada stays in the Zone because of this result:

Colombia defeated Canada 2-1 in Colombia
R1 - A.WOZNIAK (CAN) def. M.DUQUE-MARINO (COL)
6-1 6-2
R2 - C.CASTANO (COL) def. S.DUBOIS (CAN)
6-2 6-4
R3 - C.CASTANO / M.DUQUE-MARINO (COL) def. S.DUBOIS / M.PELLETIER (CAN)
6-3 4-6 6-4

Brazil and Colombia were the advancees.

[DBBN]

Just Colombia. Only one moves up to WGII playoffs from Las Americas. Colombia d. Brazil 84 to -2.