Mneated 2 to 0 on Saturday, Belgium restored equality on Sunday (2-2) after the singles matches, before then losing in the decisive doubles against China during the play-off match for maintenance within the global group.
For the first time since February 2016, Belgium will return to its regional zone, group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone. “It’s a great shame to have lost this decisive double,” said Belgian coach Wim Fissette in comments sent by the Belgian tennis federation.
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“We arrived in China relatively early to adapt and try to get everyone to their best level. It was very necessary. Hanne Vandewinkel, for example, was returning from a long period of injury (since the end of October, Editor’s note). There were a lot of question marks in the absence of our best players. We knew it would be difficult. On Saturday we felt like we had chances, but the Chinese played really well. Today (Sunday), they were perhaps a little worse and we seized the opportunity. Sofia Costoulas played very intelligently and remained very calm. Same thing for Hanne for her first match in a long time and against a good Chinese woman. She was very solid, tactically disciplined with great mental strength. The doubles was difficult against a very good Chinese pair. I put Hanne with Sofia to ride the good momentum of the day. They made the break (3-5) in the first set, but the tie-break was difficult. Sofia and Hanne showed great energy and played really well together. »
He concludes: “It’s a shame to leave the world group. If one or other of our best players could have been there, we could have held on. Now we will continue the work with the young people. It’s a great project too and we’re going to do it. »
Belgium
