Taiwan’s Fed Cup team crashed to a 3-0 defeat in their Asia/Oceania Group I match against Kazakhstan at the Guangdong Olympic Tennis Centre in Guangzhou, China, yesterday and are in danger of having to play a relegation playoff tomorrow.
With Chan Yung-jan still suffering with an injury, world No. 393 Lee Ya-hsuan was promoted to the singles yesterday, but the Taiwanese player was no match for Kazakhstan’s world No. 51 Yaroslava Shvedova as Lee fell to a 6-1, 6-1 defeat.
In the second singles rubber, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei rallied to win the second set against world No. 33 Zarina Diyas, but it was not enough as the world No. 152 eventually fell to a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 loss.
Photo: AFP
In the doubles, Taiwanese sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching, ranked 23rd and 37th in the doubles respectively, were clearly out of sorts as they fell to a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Kamila Kerimbayeva and Yulia Putintseva, who are ranked 475th and 1,047th.
The 3-0 loss coupled with China’s 2-1 win over second seeds Thailand left Taiwan adrift at the bottom of Pool B with a 1-5 record. That means they need to beat China 3-0 today to avoid having to face a relegation playoff tomorrow, likely against Hong Kong. Kazakhstan top the pool with a 5-1 record.
China’s victory came in the singles rubbers, with Wang Qiang thrashing Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech 6-0, 6-1 and Zheng Saisai outlasting veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Wang and Zheng fell to a 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) loss to Luksika Kumkhum and Nicha Lertpitaksinchai in the doubles as neither world No. 21 Peng Shuai or world No. 64 Zhang Shuai featured for China.
In Pool A, No. 1 seeds Japan top the standings after consecutive 3-0 victories over South Korea and Hong Kong, while Uzbekistan are second with a 4-2 record following a shock 2-1 loss to South Korea yesterday. Hong Kong are bottom with a 0-6 record.
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