The Austrian Fed Cup team has also lost the third group match of the European/African Zone I in Tallinn. As expected, the ÖTV-selection had to admit defeat against Latvia with 0-3. But Melanie Klaffner showed a great performance and even won a set against reigning French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko.
Even before the meeting with Latvia on Friday, Austria was the last of Group D after losing 1-2 against Poland and Turkey. That’s why ÖTV captain Jürgen Waber relied on Pia König (WTA-562.) and Melanie Klaffner (WTA-523.) in the final group game.
King made against the world rankings-15. Anastasija Sevastova, who lives in Vienna and is trained by the Styrian Ronald Schmidt, starts her career. However, the 24-year-old king only managed one single game, losing 0:6,1:6.
The omens were even clearer in the second singles when Klaffner demanded the number six in the world ranking list Ostapenko. Klaffner showed a courageous performance and could even win the first set after 32 minutes. Afterwards, however, the Latvian class won, Ostapenko won the second and third sets with 6:0 and 6:3.
In the doubles match, Klaffner and König were also on the pitch, but Diana Marcinkevica and Daniela Vismane were beaten 6:2,2:6,3:6.
Austria will now meet Georgia on Saturday (from 9am at the LIVE-CENTER). Should the Austrians lose the duel, this would mean their relegation to the Europe/Africa Zone II.
“I expect two well-balanced singles in which we are easy to favor,”said Waber,”We won surprisingly last year’s double. I hope everything’s clear before now.”
Barbara Haas received a rest from Waber as well as Julia Grabher to be fit for the meeting with Georgia. Especially Haas should have taken this break thankfully, because on Wednesday she was still incapacitated by a gastrointestinal virus. Captain Waber hopes to gain the necessary advantage by protecting his top players, which could make all the difference in the end,”he said.
The Georgian team was already confronted with the ÖTV selection last year. At that time, the Austrians won 2-1 against Ekaterine Gorgodse and Sopia Shapatava.