An upset win over the world No 32 by rising teenage player Luksika Kumkhum couldn't prevent Thailand losing to hosts Kazakhstan 2-1 in their opening women's Fed Cup Zone Asia/Oceania Group I tie in Asatana on Thursday.
Competing in a three-team Group A which also includes India, Thailand were level at 1-1 against top seed Kazakhstan before Noppawan Lertcheewakarn and Varatchava Wongteanchai went down 2-6 6-2 6-0 to Yaroslava Shvedova and Galina Voskoboeva in the deciding doubles rubber. The hosts got off to a flying start when Ksenia Pervak dropped just a single game to Thai No 3 Nudnida Luangnam on the way to a 6-0 6-1 win in less than an hour. But new Thai No 1 Luksika found an equaliser when she struck back after a disastrous first set to upend Kazakh ace Shvedova 0-6 6-4 6-4.
Kazakhstan, with a 3-0 win over India in the first tie, finished top of the group and will take on Group B's winner today, with promotion to the World Group at stake. Thailand were due to play India late yesterday.
No Serena, Sharapova in tweaked
The 2013 Fed Cup World Group gets underway today without marquee names Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova but with a late format tweak aimed at boosting the event's appeal.
Williams and Sharapova will not be involved when the United States tackle Italy and Russia welcome Japan this weekend.
Williams, who has played just six ties since 1999, has a back injury while Sharapova was left out of the Russian squad.
Their absences have cut the number of top-10 players competing in the four World Group One ties to just three - No 7 Sara Errani of Italy, eighth-ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and No 9 Samantha Stosur of Australia.
Wary of the growing demands placed on time and physical endurance by the professional tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced on Thursday changes concerning dead rubbers in the tournament.
Under the new policy, if a tie is decided after the third singles rubber, the fourth singles rubber will not be played and the dead doubles rubber will be played instead.
However if the tie is only decided after the fourth singles rubber, the dead doubles rubber will still be played, with a match tiebreak (first to 10 points) replacing the third set.
Former Wimbledon champion Kvitova leads defending champions Czech Republic against Australia in Ostrava.
In the absence of the Williams sisters, as well as Australian Open semi-finalist Sloane Stephens, the 17-time champions US will be led by world No 21 Varvara Lepchencko when they face Italy in Rimini.
Italy, with Errani and world No 16 Roberta Vinci likely to play singles and doubles, beat the US in the 2009 and 2010 finals.
Even without Sharapova, Russia, the four-time winners, should be too strong for Japan in Moscow.
Maria Kirilenko, at 13, Ekaterina Makarova, the world No 20, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 31st-ranked player and No 32 Elena Vesnina, are all higher up the WTA pecking order than Japan's top singles player Ayumi Morita, the world 57.
In Nis, 2012 runners-up Serbia, who are likely to be without world No 14 and former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic with a shoulder injury, tackle Slovakia.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/09/luksika-shoots-down-world-no-32-but-thais-crash/
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