Indonesia beats New Zeland 3-0 in Federation Cup ties
Indonesia beats New Zeland 3-0 in Federation Cup ties
OSAKA, Japan (Agencies): The 1998 Asian Games champion Yayuk Basuki showed no ill-effects from her maternity leave as she won two matches to lead Indonesia to a 3-0 victory over New Zealand.
Yayuk's defeat of Rewa Hudson (6-0, 6-1) was followed by Wynne Prakusya's 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) win over Leanne Baker. Yayuk and Wynne outclassed Hudson and Shelley Stephens 6-4, 6-2.
The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) spokesman, Benny Mailili, said in a telephone interview that Yayuk played very well today and did not show any indication of leaving tennis for a year due to maternity leave.
"Yayuk showed that she really prepared herself for about three months to compete in the Fed Cup. She didn't have any troubles at all to overcome Hudson. In fact, she produced two aces to win in the 50-minute match."
Benny quoted Hudson as saying: "I didn't expect Yayuk to play this well. Her serve and volley are still as good as before her maternity leave."
Benny said playing in the first match as the second singles enabled Yayuk to earn points for the country.
Indonesia's first singles Wynne also played well in the first set. But in the second set, she had trouble concluding the match quickly as Stephens fought really hard in the tight 78-minute game.
Team manager Martina Wijaya said: "Due to the round robin competition system, Indonesia must win all its matches because only each group winner can go through to the final. And only the zone's winner will be promoted to the World Group."
AFP said Nirupama Vaidyanathan led India to a stunning 2-1 victory over fourth seed Thailand on the first day of the Fed Cup tennis Asia Oceania Group One tournament on Tuesday.
Jayaram-Sai Jayalakshmy put India one up by beating Napaporn Tongsalee 6-4, 6-2 before Thai ace Tamarine Tanasugarn evened the best-of-three battle by beating Vaidyanathan 6-3, 6-3.
But Vaidyanathan, teaming up with Manisha Malhotra in the deciding doubles, saved two set points in the first set tie- breaker and went on to edge past Tamarine and Benjamas Sangaram 7-6 (10-8), 6-2.
"I went into the match, thinking that my singles match is going to be tough, it's not an easy one at all. I believed in myself, but she was just better than me, there was nothing I could do," said Vaidyanathan.
"The doubles was what mattered. We had an absolutely open mind. I was playing well and my partner really supported and played really aggressive tennis, so I'm happy that we won."
India's captain Nandan Bal said: "We were very confident, because both my singles players have been playing very well the last two weeks on the tour. Once we won the first singles today, I knew it was going into the doubles."
Top seeds Japan had a rest day in the five-team Pool A round robin with Thailand, while second seeds China, third seeds Taiwan, and Indonesia all chalked up two singles wins to secure victories in the six-team Pool B.
Li Na breezed past Choi Jin-young 6-3, 6-3, and Yi Jingqian whipped Cho Yoon-jeong 6-3, 6-1 as China defeated South Korea 2- 1.
Taiwan's former number one player Wang Shi-ting, who is going to retire "soon" and play only doubles, watched her teammates Tai Lan-lan and Janet Lee score comfortable singles victories to beat Singapore.
Tai overpowered Tina Jacob 6-1, 6-2 and Lee trounced Yik-Hui Leow 6-1, 6-0 before Wang and Lee whitewashed Leow and Simin Liu 6-0, 6-0.
Kazakhstan struggled to beat Hong Kong 2-1 thanks to a 4-6, 6- 3, 6-4 victory by Alissa Velts and Valeriya Khazova over Tong Ka- po and Olivia Graveraux in the deciding doubles.
In Group Two, top seeds Uzbekistan defeated Pacific Oceania 2- 1 and Malaysia downed Fiji 3-0 in Pool A, while seconds seeds the Philippines beat Jordan 3-0, Tajikistan outplayed Syria 3-0 and Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan 2-1 in Pool B. (yan)