On the morning of this Saturday, April 16, Colombia played its last three matches against Paraguay in the struggle to remain for the following year in Group I of the Americas Zone of the Billie Jean King Cup.
After being eliminated on April 15 against Brazil, the tennis players selected by captain Fabiola Zuluaga in the Colsanitas team, which represents the Colombia national team, were challenged not to bring their record down to group II in 2023 through three death matches against the Paraguayan national team.
To ensure the result in favor, the team captained by Fabiola Zuluaga needed only the triumph in the singles points. The first to take the court was Cucuteña Yuliana Lizarazo, who in two and a half hours overtook the juvenile Leyla Britez with partials of [5-7], [6-4] and [6-2].
The second was much more unbalanced, as María Fernanda Herazo scored a double 6-0 against Heydi Doldán in less than 50 minutes and gave the national team the long-awaited peace of mind:
Thus, Team Colombia Colsanitas said goodbye to Salinas, Ecuador, without qualifying the long-awaited play-offs to play the international title, but rescuing their category for the following year, when they can count on the experience and talent of María Camila Osorio, number 33 in the WTA ranking.
It was not necessary to play the doubles game between Maria Paulina Perez and Antonia Samudio vs. Leyla Britez and Paulina Franco, because at 1:41pm Colombia already had 2-0 in favor in the overall series of the relegation and permanence match.
In post-match statements between Colombia and Paraguay, captain Fabiola Zuluaga was very optimistic about the work of her leaders during the final phase of qualifying in the Billie Jean King Cup 2022. These were his words about it:
It should be noted that next year Colombia will compete again in this instance against South American rivals such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico or Chile. Subsequently, the women's tennis coffee team will have the opportunity to return to the play-offs, a place that has not been accessed since 2008 when it won that year's Group I Americas and had to play against Belgium as a visitor.
For Colombia, this will be the seventeenth consecutive season in Group I, the most important that the American continent has in the Billie Jean King Cup. The last time the national team was part of Group II was in the 2005 edition of the championship formerly known as the Fed Cup.
It should be recalled that within Group II of the Americas in the 2022 edition of the Billie Jean King Cup are the following countries, which are now looking for a place in Group I for the following year:
Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
A year ago Colombia participated in this competition, formerly called the Fed Cup, with Emiliana Arango and María Camila Osorio Serrano in its ranks. The coffee delegation was eliminated by Argentina and was unable to reach the play-off area, where Argentina and Mexico did settle, countries that won with the participation of Nadia Podoroska, Paula Ormaechea; Fernanda Contreras and Giuliana Olmos.
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