Ulcinj Fed Cup Tennis 2013 Europe/Africa Zone – Group II
ULCINJ, MONTENEGRO: Latvia stormed to the top of Pool A on the opening day of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Europe/Africa Zone Group II event after defeating Finland in all three rubbers.
Jelena Ostapenko and Diana Marcinkevica sealed victory for the Latvians with straight sets wins over Ella Leivo and Piia Suomalainen respectively, before the same two Latvian players completed the whitewash with a comfortable 60 63 win against Leivo and Tanja Tuomi.
In the other tie in Pool A, Tunisia defeated Estonia 2-1. Nour Abbes needed just over an hour to clinch victory against Julia Matojan 63 63 in the first rubber, while Ons Jabeur took just 59 minutes to ease past Eva Paalma 62 62 in the second.
The Estonians had something to cheer about when Paalma and Tatjana Vorobjova thrashed Yosr Elmi and Mouna Jebri for the loss of just one game in the second set of the doubles rubber.
In Pool B Lithuania and Montenegro scored 2-1 wins over South Africa and Greece respectively to move ahead going into the second day of the round-robin.
Justina Mikulskyte defeated Lynn Kiro 63 61 and Lina Stanciute followed suit with a 36 62 60 win against Chanel Simmonds to give Lithuania an unassailable lead, but the South Africa doubles duo of Natalie Grandin and Madre Le Roux won a consolation point for the southern hemisphere team after defeating Joana Eidukonyte and Agne Cepelyte 64 62.
Hosts Montenegro bounced back from losing the opening rubber to claim a win on day one. Greece’s Despoina Papamichail saw off Ana Veselinovic 61 62 before Danka Kovinic stole the show. The Montenegran defeated Maria Sakkari 62 63 and then teamed up with Danica Krstajic to win 60 76(13) against Papamichail and Despoina Vogasari.
Tomorrow sees Estonia take on Latvia and Finland play Tunisia in Pool A, with South Africa scheduled to face Montenegro and Greece to play Lithuania in Pool B.
Play starts at 10am local time (8am GMT).
