Indonesia tops preliminary Fed Cup group<\/p>\n
Associated Press
\nNew Delhi<\/p>\n
Second-seeded Indonesia topped its preliminary pool in the
\nwomen's Fed Cup Asia-Pacific tennis competition, defeating third-
\nranked South Korea 2-1 on Friday to complete its league play with
\nfour straight wins.<\/p>\n
Indonesia rallied after losing the opening singles to dash
\nSouth Korea's hopes of advancing to the knockout round as host
\nIndia took second place in Pool B standings.<\/p>\n
Kim Jin-hee gave South Korea a winning start with a 6-3, 6-1
\ndemolition of Sandy Gumulya in the first singles, but Indonesia's
\nWynne Prakusya held her nerve to carve a 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-4
\ntriumph over Jeon Mi-ra.<\/p>\n
Angelique Widjaja and Wynne Prakusya then sealed the
\nIndonesian victory, prevailing 6-3, 7-5 against Cho Yoon-jeong
\nand Chang Kyung-mi.<\/p>\n
Down by a break at 4-5 in the second set, Widjaja and Prakusya
\neffected two breaks to claim three consecutive points and clinch
\nthe match.<\/p>\n
Pool B topper Indonesia will take on fourth-seeded New
\nZealand, while India will meet Pool A topper and top-ranked
\nThailand in the next round Saturday.<\/p>\n
The winners of both of these matches will advance to the World
\nGroup qualifying playoffs.<\/p>\n
India also recovered from a defeat in its first singles
\nagainst Uzbekistan to prevail 2-1, but had to wait for the result
\nof the Indonesia-South Korea match to know if it would stay in
\ncontention for a place in the World Group qualifying playoffs.<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan's Ivanna Isroilova ended the winning streak of
\nIndia No. 2 Ankita Bhambri by prevailing 6-4, 6-4 in the opening
\nsingles. Bhambri had giving India a winning start in all three
\nprevious preliminary league matches, but faltered against the
\ndeep-serving Isroilova.<\/p>\n
Sania Mirza pulled India back with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over
\nAkgul Amanmuradova to set up the decisive doubles.
\nMirza paired up with Manisha Malhotra to clinch the doubles 7-6
\n(19), 6-1 against Isroilova and Vlada Ekshibarova, who wilted in
\nthe second set after losing an intense tiebreaker in the first.<\/p>\n
Last year, Japan and Indonesia made it to the World Group
\nqualifying playoffs from the Asia-Pacific Zone.<\/p>\n
Japan went on to make the 2004 World Group, but Indonesia lost
\nthe playoff and reverted back to Asia-Oceania Zone's Group 1.
\nSouth Korea paid a heavy cost for its 2-1 loss to India, but
\nremained in the fray until Friday.<\/p>",
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