Second straight loss leaves Thais staring at Fed Cup relegation
>> Thailand suffered their second straight whitewash yesterday and ended their Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 Pool A campaign at the bottom of the table in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Thailand were beaten 3-0 by hosts Kazakhstan barely 24 hours after being whipped by South Korea by the same margin.
The national team must now beat the Philippines, the cellar-dwellers in Pool B, in a play-off today to avoid relegation to a lower tier.
Thailand captain Tamarine Tanasugarn said: “We must win the play-off. We have not been faced with a situation like this for a long time.”
Thailand No.2 Nicha Lertpitaksinchai found it tough to handle the powerful groundstrokes unleashed by Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva, who is ranked No.263 in the world.
The young Thai’s ordeal didn’t last long as Voskoboeva raced to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Nicha, ranked 292nd in the world.
Thailand No.1 Luksika Kumkhum also failed to pose any real challenge to Kazakhstan’s world No.27 Yulia Putinitseva in the second singles match.
Luksika made lots of unforced errors, paving the way for Putinitseva to cruise to a 6-1, 6-3 victory in only 78 minutes to assure Kazakhstan of a win over Thailand.
In the doubles battle, Thailand’s Kamonwan Buayam and Peangtarn Plipuech were beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Kamila Kerimbayeva and Yaroslava Shvedova.
Tamarine added: “We are very disappointed. The scores made it look like a big loss, but we were close in most of the games. I think Nicha and Luksika did quite well.”