I see your argument Indiana and actually I dont disagree totally.

However, you say Bally showed 'good form before her body latterly gave way' - which is odd to me. Since when did winning a set in R1 of a 25k count as good form? Fichman is a decent player but has had a distinctly average year and is still far less experienced than Bally and either Irogyen / Molinero. The fact the match was also on green clay too means the rallies were probably shorter than you would predict on red clay and yet Bally wasnt able to make the third set even close to competitive. You seem to argue its exaggerated that Bally had no chance to win a third set, but looking objectively at the information in front of you, she played one match and was nowhere near fit enough for three sets. A week later - surprise, surprise, the same applied. In a pressurised environment such as Fed Cup you need to be able to go the distance and take the chances you get. Pressure of the situation and Irogyens poor singles record in FC could easily have started to weigh on her has the match wore on and indeed the comfortable break at the start of the third, to me, was proof of Irogyens lack of mental strength. The difficulty is that obviously Jo doesnt have the Fed Cup experience to call upon either and therefore may have been equally prone to a breakdown, yet her temperament in general suggests otherwise - she is usually very sensible and level-headed.

You argue that she was likely to win in straight sets, again, this is odd. I think very few players would back themselves to win a live, away Fed Cup tie, on their least favourite surface, vs a player who has had some good wins on clay this year and is on their favourite surface, after a long lay off, surgery and to do so in straight sets. You just wouldnt. . Assuming that your player will win 2 out of 2 sets is shorterning your odds even further when winning 2 out of 3 is tough enough.

I dont accept that Anne was ever an option for singles. She has played some good doubles this year and was always due to be the doubles player. She hasnt played on clay all season and I've previously spoken about the difficulties of plantar fasciitis and why I feel Anne was never going to play in a singles rubber

I can see your argument for the selection though, as if Elena had held tough and edged the first set she would have taken the match. That was probably signs of lack of match play as she is normally the kind of fighter who would grit that out. The problem is we dont know:

1. How Elena played in her comeback match vs Fichman.

2. How Elena felt within herself (was she confident in the foot holding up, was it causing any difficults at all since the surgery etc?)

3. The condition of Annes injury or why she has avoided clay this year.

4. How Jo handled the loss to Ormaechea mentally - was she up for the reverse singles or not?

Having thought it through I believe Judy knew these answers much better than I did and therefore the decision was probably the right one  (but more for what we dont know than for the reasons you've given). I think Judy was very unfortunate as all four players were in very unpredictable form due to injuries and lack of previous red clay/ fed cup matches and its easy for me to say Bally was the wrong choice when in actual fact she was very close to taking the match and looked the better player for the first 2 sets. I dont think this will deter the girls - the World Group is beckoning and another year of experience gives us a good shot at a play off match (hopefully on anything but clay!)

I also regret berating Laura for letting the side down as I dont doubt she would have given anything to win that match. Laura does have a lot of questions to answer though and I think the clay season will be rough for her. 

P.S.  To those who care, it's OrmaEchea!

15-0

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1-1

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2-1 Ormaechea