Fagainst Belgium, China won the decisive doubles to win three victories to two in the play-off to remain in the world group of the Billie Jean King Cup tennis, Sunday in Canton (Guangzhou).
After their exploits in singles on Sunday which allowed Belgium to return to a tie (2-2), Sofia Costoulas and Hanne Vandewinkel were unable to increase the number of surprises against the Chinese pair made up of Hanyu Guo, 26, and Xinyu Jiang, 25 years old, respectively 35e et 44e in the WTA doubles rankings.
Costoulas (WTA 532 in doubles), 19 years old, and Vandewinkel (WTA 653 in doubles), 20 years old, lost 7-6 (7/3) and 6-3 after an hour and 24 minutes of play. game.
The Belgians, however, had the advantage twice in each of the two sets. First by breaking the Chinese in the eighth game (3-5) with service to follow to pocket the first set. Guo and Jiang finally won in the tie-break. In the second set, Costoulas and Vandewinkel led 0-2 before seeing China return to 2-2 and then slip to 5-2. Costoulas and Vandewinkel delayed the deadline (5-3) before conceding defeat (6-3).
Belgium is demoted to group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone for next year.
On Saturday, Belgium trailed 2-0 after the defeats of Marie Benoît against Sijia Wei and Hanne Vandewinkel against Xiyu Jiang. Wim Fissette had chosen to play Sofia Costoulas in place of Marie Benoît (WTA 208) for the first match on Sunday.
Sunday, after the feat of Sofia Costoulas, 290e world in singles, victorious over Xiyu Wang (WTA 102), 23 years old, in a doubles 7-5, it was Hanne Vandewinkel (WTA 225) who had achieved the performance of dismissing Sijia Wei, 20 years old, 131e in the world ranking: 6-3, 6-3.
