Philippines clinch promotion

Manama : The Philippines ranked 48th beat Singapore ranked 69th 2-0 yesterday to clinch promotion to the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in 2017 as the ITF Federation Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 2 matches concluded on the hard outdoor courts of the True Arena Hua Hin venue in Thailand.

In the opening singles rubber, Khim Iglupas defeated Singapore’s Charmaine Shi Yi Seah 6-2, 6-4 and Katharina Lenhert came from a set down in the second singles to beat Stefanie Tan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to ensure promotion for the Philippines.

Bahrain concluded its maiden Federation Cup campaign with a 0-3 loss to Pakistan who are ranked 82nd in the 9th-10th place play-off.

In the opening singles rubber, Pakistan’s Sarah Mahboob Khan beat Nazli Nader Redha 6-0, 6-0 and the Pakistanis followed up with Ushna Suhail also winning 6-0, 6-0 against Maram Mohammed Sharif.

The doubles match went the way of Sara Mansoor and Ushna Suhail who outplayed Bahraini duo Malak Jassim Fardan and Nazli Nader Redha 6-0, 6-0.

Bahrain’s team were under the supervision of captain/coach and former Davis Cup player Essam Abdul A’al.

The 11 participating teams were split into two pools played on a round-robin basis, with the winners of each pool playing off to determine which nation to be promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in 2017, with the remaining teams competing for positional play-offs, with the exception of the team finishing sixth in Pool B (Kyrgyzstan) who finished 11th overall.

Other placement scores:     3rd-4th: Hong Kong bt Malaysia 2-1. 

5th-6th: Indonesia bt Pacific Oceania 2-0. 

7th-8th: Sri Lanka bt Iran 2-1.