The draw for the Junior Fed Cup finals, which start tomorrow, should be out shortly. Fran Jones, Eliz Maloney and Nell Miller were the originally nominated players, so hopefully Fran has recovered from whatever caused her to retire in her last junior match. We will not be seeded. http://www.huntennis.hu/ should be providing live streams from 4 of the courts in use.
Despite my confident assertion that we won't be seeded I have now seen a photo of the draw (on Twitter) which seems to show that we have actually picked up one of the 5th-8th seedings. Our Group is shown as:
1) Japan
2) GBR
3) Uruguay
4) Morocco
The 4 top seeds (Poland, Japan, USA and especially Russia) are very strong on paper.
An excellent opening day, comfortably accounting for Morocco. All 8 seeds won, though the Japanese number 2 Yuki Naito (JWR15) came perilously close to defeat in the opening singles against Uruguay - though they easily won the other two matches. The Uruguayans have only played a couple of ITFs so it is hard to assess their current level - but could well be more dangerous than the Moroccans. However it is the match with Japan which should decide whether or not the girls can follow Heather Watson/Tara Moore (2008) in progressing to the semis
RR Day 1
(7)GBR 3 Morocco 0
Eliz Maloney d. Rim Benhai 6-3 6-1
Fran Jones d. Diae El Jardi 6-2 6-2
Maloney/Miller d. Al Khalifi/El Jardi 3-6 7-6(3) [10-5]
Another comprehensive win today setting up tomorrow's expected decider against Japan (who beat Morocco 3-0). Eliz wasn't unduly troubled by the girls who gave the JWR 15 a fright on day one, while Fran gave no mercy to the Uruguayan making her singles debut. Eighth seeds Argentina were the only seeded nation to lose in either of the first two days (to Thailand) leaving showdowns tomorrow between Canada and Poland (Group B) and USA/Czech Republic (Group D). Russia are overwhelming favourites to progress from Group A, though in theory Argentina or Thailand could still top the group.
RR Day 2
(7)GBR 3 Uruguay 0
Eliz Maloney d. Agustina Cuestas 6-3 6-2
Fran Jones d. Lucia De Santa Ana 6-0 6-0
Jones/Miller d. Cuestas/Secinaro 6-4 6-2
Eliz won the 1st set quite comfortably (at least, I assume she did - she was 4-0 up one time I looked and they were into the 2nd set the next time I looked) but is a break down in the 2nd.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Found the live scores too now - Eliz actually bagelled junior no. 15 Yuki Naito in the 1st set but has just lost the 2nd 6-3
The Brit looks the better prospect to me but Naito's standard junior tactic of moonballing her opponent and waiting for a mistake worked a lot better in the 2nd set than in the 1st.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Funny, I only saw three games of the second set (middle-ish) and I'd have said it was Eliz who was just putting the ball back in play and the Japanese girl who was attacking the ball.