Taiwan wins Fed Cup matches

Taiwan advanced to the World Group II playoffs of the Fed Cup yesterday by taking all three matches against Thailand to win the Asia/Oceania Zone.

The win marks the best finish in eight years for Taiwan's women tennis players.

Despite missing local stars Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容), who are competing in the US, the Taiwanese squad stepped up and claimed victory in the tournament in commanding fashion.

Thailand had made short work of its opponents in Group A, finishing 4-0 in the round robin by defeating Hong Kong, Singapore, Uzbekistan and South Korea, but fell quickly to the Taiwanese team.

Yesterday's playoff began with a singles match between Chan Chin-wei (詹謹瑋) and Napaporn Tongsalee, which Chan took in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.

Thailand had a chance to even the score in the second match when Tamarine Tanasugarn, ranked 68th in the world, took the first set against Hsieh Shu-wei (謝淑薇) 4-6. But Hsieh settled down to grind out wins in the next two sets 7-5, 6-4 to take the match and clinch Taiwan a place in the world group playoff in July.

The win was also Taiwan's sixth consecutive victory over Thailand in the Fed Cup.

Hwang I-hsuan (黃怡萱) and Hsu Wen-hsin (許文馨) finished off the sweep with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Montinee Tangphong and Nungnadda Wannasuk.

The last time Taiwan advanced to the World Group II playoffs was in 1999, when Wang En-ting (王恩婷), Li Hui-chih (李慧芝) and Weng Tzu-ting (翁子婷) were eliminated after losing all three of their tournament matches.

However, Taiwan now needs only to beat one other team to automatically qualify for the World Group II tournament next year.

In the International Tennis Federation in the US, Chan Yung-jan rebounded from a dreadful start to beat Julie Ditty 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 and advance to the quarterfinals, where she will play Edina Gallovits of Romania. In the women's doubles, she and Chuang reached the semifinals by defeating Milagros Sequera of of Venezuela and US player Aleke Tsoubanos 6-2, 6-0.