Pacific Oceania

The Pacific Oceania Billie Jean King Cup women's team defeated Indonesia 2-0 in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend to gain promotion to World Group I in 2024.

As has been the case consistently throughout the week, Violet Apisah of Papua New Guinea got the team off to the perfect start beating the number 2 player from Indonesia, Deria Nur Haliza 6-2, 6-2.

Carol Lee of the Northern Marianas, also continued her good form, beat the Indonesia's top player, Beatrice Gumulya 7-5, 6-1.

Vanuatu's Clement Mainguy won the opening rubber 6-4, 6-4 before the Northern Marianas' Colin Sinclair also won his rubber in straight sets.

The doubles pairing of Gillian Osmont of Tahiti and Brett Baudinet of the Cook Islands defeated their foes for a 3-0 win.

It was a partnership with a vast gulf in experience - Osmont was making his Davis Cup debut, Baudinet was playing in his 61st Davis Cup tie.

Pacific Oceania next play the United Arab Emirates, which lost its first match to Saudi Arabia.

Captain Aymeric Mara's team is supported by the CNMI's Colin Sinclair, Clement Mainguy of Vanuatu, Matthew Stubbings of Papua New Guinea, and Brett Baudinet of the Cook Islands.

Sinclair is the only ATP-ranked player for Pacific Oceania, while Estonia, skippered by Ekke Tiidemann, has all five of its players ranked in the ATP.

Jurgen Zopp has the highest ATP ranking at No. 796 in singles and 915 in doubles, followed by Vladimir Ivanov (938 in singles and 746 in doubles), Kenneth Raisma (1,139 and 1,249), Kristjan Tamm (1,152 and 90), and Mark Lajal (1,232 and 1,943).

The regional team side secured promotion to Asia/Oceania Zone Group One last weekend after winning all four of their matches in Bahrain.

Team captain Gilles De Gouy said playing against regional giants like China and Korea in 2019 would hopefully open the door to more opportunities and resources.

The composite team swept Malaysia to finish with a perfect 9-0 record across their three pool matches.

Samoa's Steffi Carruthers edged two tiebreaks and came from a break down to beat Theiviya Selvarajoo 7-6 7-6 in the first singles rubber.

Abigail Tere-Apisah from Papua New Guinea eased past Suhana Sofia 6-2 6-0 in the second match before the pair combined to win the doubles 6-4 6-2.

As top qualifiers in Pool C, Pacific Oceania will take on Pool B winners Singapore in Saturday's semi finals, which double as a play-off for promotion to Group One.

The women finished in a share of fifth place last week in Asia/Oceania Zone Group Two, while the men defeated Turkmenistan to avoid relegation from Group Three.

This is the third year since the Pacific Oceania Fed Cup team was revived and captain Patrice Cotti said they travelled to Tajikistan with high hopes.

"Last year we lost against Philippines and Philippines was promoted so this year we expected to make a good result," he said.

Tahiti's Heve Kelley defeated Yacoub Makzoume 6-3 1-6 6-2 in the opening singles rubber in Colombo before Colin Sinclair from the Northern Marianas sealed the result, beating Kareem Al Allaf 6-4 6-0 in his debut match.

The doubles pairing of Brett Baudinet and Aymeric Mara were unable to complete the clean sweep, losing in three sets.

Hosts Sri Lanka also made a winning start in Pool A, beating Jordan 2-1, while Lebanon and Qatar had 2-1 victories over Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates.

The composite team were beaten 2-1 by Malaysia in their first match in the knockout rounds, having previously lost their three pool matches against Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei and India.

Tahiti's Naia Guitton lost the opening singles rubber in three sets before Carol Lee from the CNMI levelled proceedings with a straight sets victory.

However the pair was then beaten in straight sets in the doubles.

Pacific Oceania will play Sri Lanka today in the playoff for 15th place.