NZ show spirit, but beaten by Romania
- Dave Worsley
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
New Zealand has lost its Billie Jean King Cup Play-off tie against Romania 3–0, but was close to securing two of the matches.
Vivian Yang lost 6-2 6-1 to her more experienced opponent Elena Ruxandra Bertea in the opening match.
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However Elyse Tse went three sets in her loss 4-6 6-0 6-1 against Gabriela Lee in the second singles.
In the doubles Erin Routliffe and Jade Otway lost 6-2 3-6 10-5 to Mara Gae and Monica Niculescu after several chances to take the match.
New Zealand will now play in the Asia/Oceania Group I next year.
Tse played outstandingly well to take the opening set, keeping the pressure on Lee, who is ranked 292 in the world, and looked to play aggressive tennis against her.
But she wasn’t able to keep that level up in the second set and had a medical time out at the end of it to receive some treatment on her lower back.
The doubles was a tight battle, with two of the most experienced players in the world on either side of the net, in Routliffe and Niculescu.
After losing the opening set, New Zealand went down a break early in the second. Routliffe and Otway as they won six of the next eight games to take the match the distance.
The score was 3-3 at the first change of ends in the super tiebreak, but the next two points went the way of the Romanians and they went on to extend that lead to 9-4.
Otway saved the first match point on her serve, but on the second Gae had a fortunate mishit with her return, as the ball flew in between Routliffe and Otway.