2006 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I – Play-offs

The Play-offs of the 2006 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I were the final stages of the Group I Zonal Competition involving teams from Europe and Africa. Those that qualified for this stage placed first and second in their respective pools, and also last in their pools.

Placing	Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
1	Slovakia	Serbia and Montenegro	Great Britain	Israel
2	Netherlands	Denmark	Bulgaria	Romania
3	Luxembourg	Slovenia	Hungary	Belarus
4	Finland	South Africa	Ukraine	Estonia
5				Sweden

The eight top teams were then randomly paired up the team from a different placing of another group for a play-off tie, with the winners being promoted to the World Group II Play-offs. The four bottom teams were also randomly paired up in play-off ties with the losers being relegated down to Group II for 2007.

Promotional Play-offs

Slovakia vs. Great Britain

Slovakia 2	TC Lokomotiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 22 April 2006 Red clay (outdoors)		Great Britain 1
1 2 3 1 Magdaléna Rybáriková Elena Baltacha 7 5 6 3     2 Daniela Hantuchová Anne Keothavong 6 2 6 1     3 Dominika Cibulková / Janette Husárová Elena Baltacha / Claire Curran 4 6 3 6

[1]

•  Slovakia advanced to the World Group II Play-offs, where they were drawn against  Great Britain. They won 5–0, and thus advanced to the World Group II for next year.[2]

Serbia and Montenegro vs. Israel

Serbia and Montenegro 1	TC Lokomotiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 22 April 2006 Red clay (outdoors)		Israel 2
1 2 3 1 Ana Timotić Anna Smashnova 5 7 4 5     retired 2 Ana Ivanovic Shahar Pe'er 2 6 6 4 4 6   3 Ana Ivanovic / Danica Krstajić Tzipora Obziler / Shahar Pe'er 1 6 6 4 8 10

[3]

•  Israel advanced to the World Group II Play-offs, where they were drawn against  Indonesia. However, the Indonesians pulled out of the tie to protest the violence that occurred in the Gaza Strip at that time of the year.[4] Israel thus progressed to the 2007 World Group II.[5]

Relegation Play-offs

South Africa vs. Sweden

South Africa 0	TC Lokomotiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 22 April 2006 Red clay (outdoors)		Sweden 3
1 2 3 1 Elze Potgieter Johanna Larsson 1 6 0 6     2 Alicia Pillay Sofia Arvidsson 1 6 1 6     3 Alicia Pillay / Lizaan du Plessis Mari Andersson / Nadja Roma 2 6 0 6

[6]

•  South Africa was relegated down to Group II for next year, where they placed third overall.[7]

Finland vs. Ukraine

Finland 0	TC Lokomotiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 22 April 2006 Red clay (outdoors)		Ukraine 2
1 2 3 1 Piia Suomalainen Olena Antypina 7^8 6^6 1 6 2 6   2 Emma Laine Kateryna Bondarenko 3 6 7^11 6^9 7 9   3           not played

[8]

•  Finland was relegated down to Group II for next year, where they placed last in their pool of three, and lost in their relegation play-off. The Finns therefore played in the 2008 Group III.[9]

See also

• Fed Cup structure

References

1. "Slovakia v Great Britain". fedcup.com.
2. "Fed Cup Profile, Slovakia". fedcup.com.
3. "Serbia and Montenegro v Israel". fedcup.com.
4. "Indonesia pulls out of Fed Cup tennis in Israel to protest Gaza Strip violence". Associated Press. 2006-07-04. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
5. "Fed Cup Profile, Israel". fedcup.com.
6. "South AFrica v Sweden". fedcup.com.
7. "Fed Cup Profile, South Africa". fedcup.com.
8. "Finland v Ukraine". fedcup.com.
9. "Fed Cup Profile, Finland". fedcup.com.

External links

• Fed Cup website