Samantha Stosur rebounded to seal the win for Australia over Thailand yesterday in the Federations Cup Asia/Oceania Group I play-offs, putting the host nation in a good position to make the final.
Australia remained unbeaten in the round-robin stage of the women’s team competition with a 3-0 win in the tie against Thailand, their main Group B rivals.
Having already beaten South Korea on Wednesday, the Australians will be expected to easily handle winless Taiwan in their final group match today and advance to the final as the top side in their group.
PHOTO: AFP
Their rivals in the final will be either Indonesia or New Zealand, the two nations unbeaten in Group A and set to play each other today.
Tomorrow’s winner advances to an April play-off for a promotion in 2010 to World Group II — one step closer to the elite event.
In the Australia-Thailand tie, Jelena Dokic set the tone by easily beating Suchanun Viratprasert, 6-1, 6-2.
But the host nation looked set to head into the make-or-break doubles rubber when Stosur, ranked 43rd in the world, found herself one game away from defeat against veteran Thai player Tamarine Tanasugarn, ranked 41st, who led 6-4, 5-2.
Tamarine then collapsed, failing twice to serve out the match and then allowing Stosur to reel off 11 straight games to claim the three-set victory, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, and seal the win for Australia.
Indonesia, who beat Australia in the Asia/Oceania play-offs last year, made it two wins in a row in Group A, beating India 3-0.
Lavinia Tatanta put the Indonesians ahead by beating Sanaa Bhambri 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, before Sandy Gumulya secured the tie with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Ankita Bhambri.
New Zealand stayed on target with a win over Uzbekistan in a marathon tie, clinching it in the deciding doubles, with Marina Erakovic and Kairangi Vano beating Akgul Amanmuradova and Albina Khabibulina, 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-2.
In Asia/Oceania Group II, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong both remained unbeaten with easy wins over Iran and Singapore, respectively.
■SA TENNIS OPEN
AFP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Young South African Izak van der Merwe and French journeyman Sebastien de Chaunac mocked the world rankings on Wednesday to set up a SA Tennis Open second-round showdown.
Giant Van der Merwe won successive tie-breakers to eliminate in-form German Benjamin Becker, who was 163 places above his opponent on the ATP list released on Monday.
De Chaunac belied his ranking of 225 to topple Spanish third seed Marcel Granollers 7-5, 7-6 on a near-deserted outside court as the small crowd who braved wet, chilly conditions huddled around the Montecasino center court.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR,CHILE
Top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez opened his defense of the Movistar Open title when he edged Argentine qualifier Maximo Gonzalez 7-5, 7-6 (9/7) in the second round on Wednesday.
Fernando Gonzalez had to save six break points in a tough tournament opener that took more than two hours.
■ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB
Ivan Ljubicic will miss the final of his hometown event for the first time after losing in the second round of the Zagreb Indoors on Wednesday.
Despite hitting 19 aces and winning three-quarters of his first serves, Ljubicic fell to Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
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