Not many would want to be in the position of national tennis coach S. Selvarajoo as he ponders his line up for the crucial Fed Cup match against India at the National Tennis Centre in Jalan Duta tomorrow.
Foremost on the mind of the soft spoken coach is who shall he play against Sania Mirza as even Selvarajoo knows that no matter who plays in that singles match, it will be tough to upstage the Indian number one.
On the top of that is the fact that Selvarajoo is under pressure from certain quarters to field selected players in the Fed Cup matches.
But the coach will not let the pressure get to him as he ponders on the best options.
" We have to get one singles and I admit whoever we decide to field against ania will have a tough time,"conceded Selvarajoo.
Going by the ranking, Malaysia should field Jawairiah Noordin against Sania, but the number one Malaysian was a bundle of nerves against Singapore's Stefanie Tan on Wednesday.
There is no doubt that Khoo Chin Bee will play the second singles and will be up against Poojashree Venkatesha. The inclusion of Chin Bee, though questioned by certain quarters has however been justified as she contributed in the 2-1win over Singapore, thus keeping the Malaysian hopes alive to make the pllayoff to determine who moves up to Group 1.
Selvarajoo has enough on his plate and could do with co-operation from all quarters as Malaysia take on India tomorrow.
Results
Japan 3 New Zealand 0
Ayumi Morita def Marina Erakovic 2-6; 7-6 (5); 6-1
Kimiko Date-Krumm def Sacha Jones 6-2; 6-4
Kimiko Date-Krumm/Rika Fujiwara def Marina Erakovic/ Sacha Jones 6-3; 6-4
Thailand 1 Kazakhstan 2
Suchanun Viratprasert lost to Sessil Karatancheva 4-6; 2-6
Tamarine Tanasugarn def Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3; 6-3
Nudnida Luangnam/ Varatchaya Wongteanchai lost to Shvedova/Galina Voskobeova 3-6; 4-6
Indonesia 1 Korea 2
Sandy Gumulya lost to Jin A Lee 3-6; 3-6
Ayu Fani Damayanti def So-Jung Kim 6-2; 6-1
Nudnida Luangnam/Lavinia Tanata lost to Yaroslava Shvedova/Jin A Lee 5-7; 2-6
Uzbekistan 0 Chinese Taipei 3
Albina Khabibulina lost to Kai-chen Chang 2-6; 2-6
Akgul Amanmuradova lost to Yung-Jan Chan 6-2; 6-2
Akgul Amanmuradova/Albina Khabibulina lost to Su-wei Hsieh/Chia Jung Chuan 3-6; 2-6
Syria 0 Kyrgsztan 0
Kim Sadi lost to Bermet Duvanaeva 0-6; 0-6
Kett Sadi lost to Ksenia Palkina 1-6; 1-6
Diala Jamaleddine/Kim Sadi lost to Nelli Buyuklianova/Ksenia Palkina 0-6; 4-6
India 3 Singapore 0
Poojashree Venkatesha def Si Ying Julienne Keong 6-1; 6-1
Sania Mirza def Li Yun Tan 'Stephanie' 6-2; 6-3
Saana Bhambri/Rushmi Chakravati def Clare Fong/Stefanie Tan 6-0; 6-2
Hong Kong 2 Philippines 1
Zi Jun Yang lost to Michelle Pang 6-4; 0-6; 1-6
Ling Zhang def Anna Christine Patrimonio 6-2; 6-0
Ho Ching Wu/Po Kuaen Lam def Anna Christine Patrimonio/Marinel Rudas 6-0; 6-2
