Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka guaranteed themselves spots in the Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final Qualifying event in Gimcheon, Korea on 22-27 April after both maintained their undefeated records in the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying event in Kuching, Malaysia on Thursday.
Group A leaders Kazakhstan defeated Kyrgyzstan 3-0 after Gozal Ainitdinova and Assel Jumamukhambetova continued their dominant form in singles, defeating Eliza Askarova 75 62 and Arina Beliaeva 62 60 respectively. Ainitdinova and Darya Shevchenko then wrapped up a fourth triumph in as many days for Kazakhstan with a 76(3) 62 win over Askarova and Beliaeva in the doubles rubber.
Also undefeated in the group, second-placed Sri Lanka secured victory over Pakistan after Kavindya De Silva defeated Rida Khalid 62 60 and Nethmie Waduge bettered Iman Qureshi 63 62. Waduge and De Silva rounded off the tie by edging Qureshi and Khalid 6-4 3-6 7-6(8) in the doubles to seal a 3-0 trumph and effectively end Pakistan's outside chance of finishing in the top two.
The two qualified teams will go head to head in their final group game on Friday, knowing that the result will determine who finishes top of the group.
In the other clash on Thursday, Iran defeated Jordan 3-0 to secure the first point of its Pre-Qualifying campaign. A straightforward triumph saw the team win all six sets across the three rubbers, with Chazal Pakbaten playing a starring role for the winners with a comfortable singles win in the opening rubber and a 64 63 victory alongside Jasmi Khoshabeh Ghaleh Esmaeil Agha against Rama Bageen and Alice Muasher in the doubles.
Jordan faces a tough ask to achieve its first win of the Pre-Qualifying event on the final day of play on Friday when the nation takes on third-placed Pakistan, who won two of their first four ties, while Iran will bid to end the event on a high when the team takes on Kyrgyszstan.
For a full breakdown of results from Thursday's play, click here
North/Central American & Caribbean Pre-Qualifying
In the Junior Fed Cup Pre-Qualifying event in El Salvador, the group standings were decided on Wednesday ahead of the start of knock-out competition on Thursday.
Costa Rica caused the upset of the day, stunning second seeds Dominican Republic 2-1 after swinging the deciding doubles rubber on a match-turning second set tiebreak. After losing the second rubber to Dominican Republic’s Karla Portalatin in three sets, Eugenia Camacho made no mistake over the distance in the deciding doubles as she teamed with Sofia Perez to defeat her singles conqueror and Ashley Almonte 36 76(3) 62 and carry Costa Rica to the top of Group B.
The remaining three of Wednesday’s girls ties also required a deciding doubles rubber to determine the winner.
Claudia Carrera and Amanda Gomez helped No. 1 seeds Cuba top Group A after defeating Chantal Martinez and Glary Rodriguez 75 36 64, while Nancy Menjivar and Paola Carpio won their doubles rubber against Barbados to help El Salvador achieve the same feat in Group D. Guatemala were the other team to win their Group, defeating Bahamas 2-1 to win Group C.
Wednesday’s results mean top seeds Cuba will take on Bermuda, second seeds Dominican Republic play fourth seeds El Salvador, Guatemala are up against Puerto Rico and Costa Rica face Barbados in the knock-out stages on Thursday. The eight teams are bidding for just one spot into the North/Central American & Caribbean Final Qualifying event in Montreal on May 2-4.
For a full breakdown of results from Wednesday's play, click here