Fed Cup 2014 - Europe/Africa Zone Group I

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

RE: Fed Cup 2014 - Europe/Africa Zone Group I

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Heather undefeated in singles beating two top 50 players along the way.

GSM 6-4 6-2

Wonderful stuff, she's done her country proud, hope it goes as well in Midland

briteny · Intermediate Club Player

Can anyone please tell me what is happening to GB team? Any change ?

PaulM · Tennis legend

Lovely wnd to the week. So chuffed for Tara

paulisi · Tennis legend

Not too bad a week, but really need a fit Laura back and an established doubles team to progress further.

Romania look like they are in the playoffs, they should make WG 2

Hev needs to work on getting that ranking back as she is playing top 100 tennis. Needs a good week in US, but jetlag might be a factor.

TomTraubert · Futures level

briteny wrote:
Can anyone please tell me what is happening to GB team? Any change ?

im pretty sure they dont play the doubles dead rubber now

well done to all this week contributions from all round

special mention to hev - permaclass

steven · Tennis legend

They won't play the doubles in a playoff match if it's already 2-0.

Fantastic win for Hev today - 4-0 in singles this week with two top 40 scalps is really impressive!

Here's the full rundown for the week all in one place:

GBR 2-1 LAT

M1: Heather Watson WR 162 beat Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) WR 705 (CH 636 in Mar) by 5 & 1
M2: Johanna Konta WR 118 beat Diana Marcinkevica (LAT) WR 216 (CH 215 last week) by 6-3 4-6 7-5
M3: Watson & Rae lost to Ostapenko & Marcinkevica (LAT) by 1-6 7-5 7-6(5)

GBR 1-2 ROU

M1: Heather Watson WR 162 beat Sorana Cîrstea (ROU) WR 26 (CH 21 in Aug) by 6-7(6) 6-1 6-4
M2: Johanna Konta WR 118 lost to Simona Halep (ROU) WR 10 (= CH) by 1 & 4
M3: Watson & Rae lost to Begu & Niculescu (ROU) by 0 & 2

GBR 1-2 HUN

M1: Heather Watson WR 162 beat Réka-Luka Jani (HUN) WR 253 (CH 147 in 2012) by 4 & 1
M2: Johanna Konta WR 118 lost to Tímea Babos (HUN) WR 83 (CH 59 in 2012) by 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4
M3: Moore & Rae lost to Babos & Jani (HUN) by 5-7 7-5 6-4

GBR 2 v AUT 0

M1: Tara Moore WR 211 beat Tamira Paszek (AUT) WR 218 (CH 26 a year ago) by 2 & 4
M2: Heather Watson WR 162 beat Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) WR 38 (=CH) by 4 & 2

GBR finish 9th= in Euro-Africa Zone Group I

Today's result takes Judy into double figures for ties won as captain (10-2 in Group I, 10-4 overall) and it's worth noting from the above that of the 3 rubbers that were rankings upsets ( or ), GB won two of them and the upset loss was in a tie we had already won.

On rankings, we weren't expected to beat Hungary, though it feels really disappointing that we didn't because the two rubbers we lost were so close and we should have won at least one of them. Also, despite Tara being slightly higher-ranked than Paszek, the Austrian's career high and the margin of victory effectively make that a biggrin win as well.

steven · Tennis legend

The final word on how strong Pool B was goes to the playoff results today:

ROU 2-0 UKR
HUN 2-1 ISR
GBR 2-0 AUT
LAT 2-0 SLO

Pool B 8-1 Pool C

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

It really was a tough ask - I did a comparison of the two best singles/doubles ranks of the players in the 8 Davis Cup world group quarter finalists against the Romanian division 3 Fed Cup team - shows just how strong they are:

Czech Republic 129
Italy 156
Romania 168
GB 222
France 261
Germany 286
Kazakhstan 758
Japan 775
Switzerland 781

PaulM · Tennis legend

More publicity for Phil on this positive write-up at Fedcup.com

The Best of Budapest
Here at blog HQ we also asked Simon Blaze, who's spent the week patrolling the tennis courts in Budapest, a quick Q&A and he has kindly responded.

What was the most exciting tie of the week?

The eventful and marathon-long Turkey v Bulgaria doubles, which Turkey won. My favourite player from this Fed Cup was the tireless and tiny Cagla Buyukakcay from the Turkish team.

Which was the best team?

Great Britain were the most unified, enthusiastic and friendly team. All of the players supported each other and I didn't experience any "star" behaviour, hysterics, MP3-listening, bubblegum chewing, or texting from their phones!

Who were your favourite fans?

My favourite fans were the three British fans and, of course, the people gathered under the "Belgian Tennis Fans" flag were also loud, as were some of the Israeli crowd. And how could I forget the veteran Dutch fan, Opa Scheer.

What was the event like in Hungary?

Friendly and open!

Spectator · All-time great

Lovely! Sure they'll be disappointed, but Ms Watson's wins alone enough to cause great encouragement ... and good for Ms Moore to get her first Fed Cup win. Add to that the evident team spirit, and it looks like the foundation for a fine few years to come. Well done, all.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I'm glad Hev's getting back up there. Were there any ranking points to be had for these wins for her? I only hope she can continue performing like this when there are big points up for grabs so there will again be a Laura Heather race

indiana · Tennis legend

Alas no personal ranking points ( just country Fed Cup points ), but I agree still great to see from Heather. I thought that she showed very encouraging form in Australia, and got in quite a lot of matches. And she seems to have stepped it up further this week.

She will certainly be a player higher ranked players / seeds will be happy to avoid in the coming months while she herself should hopefully be making her way back up the rankings.

Peter too · Tennis legend

If our top players can stay clear of injuries we could have a very strong group by the end of the year. I hope to see Laura, Johanna and Heather firmly established in the top 100 and Tara, Naomi and Sam well inside the top 200, maybe even joining the top three.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Just, in passing, a big well done to Ireland's Fed Cup team who won promotion from Group III to Group II this weekend, the first time back in Group II since 2008.