Indonesia hosts Argentina in 1995 Federation Cup
Indonesia hosts Argentina in 1995 Federation Cup
FRANKFURT, (Agencies): Indonesia, whose dreams of reaching into the world elite group of women's tennis in the Federation Cup was shattered by Bulgaria last Wednesday, has another uphill task next year when it hosts top seed Argentina in Jakarta.
In Group One, Indonesia will have a home clash against top- seed Argentina while the Slovak Republic will travel to Australia. And second seed Netherlands will play away to Sweden while fourth seed Italy has home advantage against Canada.
The Federation Cup, which was originally launched with 16 nations playing off in London in 1963, has attracted a record entry of 83 nations for 1995.
In its new form, the four first-round losers in the 'World Group' will face the four first-round winners of 'Group One' to decide the composition of the 1996 World Group.
Similarly the four first-round losers in 'Group One' will play the four winners of the regional qualifying to decide which plays in 'Group One' the following year.
All other nations will play in regional qualifying events under Europe/Africa, the Americas and Asia/Oceania. These events will continue to be run on a round-robin basis.
"We are tremendously excited about this new format," said the ITF's Fed Cup Executive Director Debbie Jevans after the draw.
"We think the new arrangements will make the matches even more exciting for the players and spectators."
USA
The United States, which has won the Federation Cup a record 14 times, will face Austria at home in the first round of the new 'World Group'.
With 'top-ten' players Arantxa Sanchez, Conchita Martinez, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez and Mary Pierce picking the names out of the famous trophy at the Waldstadion here yesterday, the Americans screamed with delight when they landed a home tie against the Bulgarians for April 22-23.
Called the 'Fed Cup' and using a similar format to the men's Davis Cup, teams will in future play four singles and then finish with a doubles over two days on a home or away basis.
Until now ties have been decided in a single day after two singles and a doubles.
In the same half of the draw as the Americans, fourth-seeded France also pulled out a home tie against South Africa at a special ceremony attended by scores of players and officials inside the Waldstadion where this year's competition has reached the quarter-final stage.
Top-seed Spain, however, will travel to Bulgaria while third- seed Germany plays host to Japan.
Draw Draw for the 1995 Fed Cup to be played April 22-23, made here yesterday (x - denotes seeded nation - c denotes choice of venue):
World group: Spain (x-1) v (c) Bulgaria Japan v (c) Germany (x-3) (c) France (x-4) v South Africa Austria v (c) USA (x-2)
Group-1 Argentina (x-1) v (c) Indonesia Slovak Rep v (c) Austria (x-3) (c) Italy (x-4) v Canada (c) Sweden v Netherlands (x-2)