JAPAN will host Bulgaria in the World Group 2 play-offs for the Federations Cup, the unofficial tennis team World Cup for women.
The games will take place on July 9 and 10 in a best of five series. The draw took place earlier this month in London. Slovenia, Slovakia, and Indonesia were the other opponents Bulgaria could have faced.
Japan is probably the strongest team at this stage of the competition. The Asians have three tennis players that are among the top 100 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings. Bulgaria was drawn as the visiting team, because both countries played last year in the Fed Cup in Plovdiv, when Japan won dramatically by 3:2.
In the match-up last year, Bulgaria was without current captain Magdalena Maleeva, who got married that day. The young talent Sesil Karatancheva also did not feature, because at that time she was just 14 years old, while the minimum age for participation in the competition is 15.
Two weeks ago the Bulgarian team, featuring Maleeva, Karatancheva, Tzvetana Pironkova and Maria Penkova, won four consecutive games in Antalia, Turkey, in the Euro-African group of the tournament to reach the World group stage. At the same time Japan lost 2:3 in an away match to the Czech Republic and has to play this qualification game against Bulgaria in order to stay in the World Group.
In a the next few weeks, the Japanese Tennis Association has to determine the town where the match-up will take place, as well as the court surface. There will be a total number of five fixtures in the play-off series - one doubles and four singles games.
Shinubu Asagoe and Ay Sugiyama are Japan's best women tennis players at the moment. They hold the 21st and 24th place respectively in the WTA latest rankings. However, both of them were missing from the team that lost to the Czech Republic a fortnight ago. It is not yet confirmed whether the two will take part in the match-up against Bulgaria.
Two weeks ago Akiro Morigami, Aiko Nakamura, Rika Fujivara and Saory Obata lost in dramatic fashion in Prague. The series were tied at two wins apiece. Japan took the opening set in the decisive doubles game, but lost 6-4, 3-6, 0-6.
Indonesia, Slovakia, and Slovenia were the other three teams that could have faced Bulgaria. They, together with Japan, were among the seeded teams in the draw in London, while Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, China and Thailand were unseeded.
Puerto Rico - Indonesia, Thailand - Slovakia, and China - Slovenia are the other match-ups at this stage of the Fed Cup. The winners will take part in World Group 2 next year, and the losers will go back to their regional groups.
Bulgaria has not played in the World Group since 1996. According to the latest rankings of the International Tennis Federation, the Bulgarian team holds the 20th place, while the Japanese team is 16th.
"We are going to face one of the best teams at this stage of the competition. I still believe that we have a fairly good chance of coming away with the victory. Let's hope that our team will show the same enthusiasm and keep the same form that it displayed during our four games in Antalia two weeks ago," Bulgarian captain Maleeva told the official internet site of the Bulgarian Tennis Asso-ciation.
"We definitely have our chances against Japan. Last year we played a tough match-up against them and were just one win away from going through. I hope Maleeva remains our team captain. Her experience and confidence will definitely help us qualify for the World Group, which would be a major success for the Bulgarian team," Kara-tancheva said of the draw.