ROUND robin action is underway at the Junior Billie Jean King Cup, with the expected favourites in each respective clash mostly getting the win. The one massive upset was Peru’s come-from-behind win against fellow South Americans Argentina, getting up 2-1 to put themselves in best position to advance through to the knockout stage of the competition with a round to play.

After being smashed by arguably the tournament favourite Czech Republic the day before, and needing to upset the South American giants for any hope or a quarter finals birth, Peru stepped up when it counted. Argentinian star singles player Lourdes Ayala defeated Daniela Rubio in the opening singles clash, before Lucciana Perez came to the rescue. She knocked off Luciana Moyano in singles, before winning in three sets, 6-2 2-6 10-2 in the doubles with Rubio to grab the victory.

“It is a great win,” Peru captain Percy Melzi told itftennis.com. “We knew that if we could beat Argentina, we would have a chance to be in the top eight, which would be massive for us and mean so much.

“It was tough yesterday to play Czech Republic – the No. 1 European team. We got here three days before and there is an eight-hour time difference compared to home, which is tough. Today was much better and the girls gave their all. I’m very proud of them.

“For Peru to beat Argentina, it is a huge win and gives motivation for the younger ones coming through. It is also huge motivation for the whole team. We will not be overconfident tomorrow and will do everything we can to win.”

The equation is simple, if Peru can defeat the winless and lowest ranked Egypt, whilst Argentina goes down to the top ranked Czech Republic, then Peru will join the Czechs in the final eight of the competition, a remarkable feat considering they lost to Argentina in the South American qualifying. Perez said it was a great result for the small nation.

“It was really tough because we lost to them at South American Qualifying and here we came with the mentality to win and our attitude was really strong,” Perez told itftennis.com.

“It was difficult to lose to them previously as we knew we could win, but now we have beaten them in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals. We played with a lot of confidence and that was the key to today’s win.

“When it came to the doubles, Daniela and I have known each other for a very long time and we have a lot of confidence in each other. We were always thinking positively and were motivated in each point and stuck to the strategy.”

It was realistically the only group that did not go to plan, with two of the groups results decided before the final round of ties. In Group 3, reigning champions Japan sit atop of the table with back-to-back flush wins over Chile and Romania, advancing to the next stage ahead of their top-of-the-table group stage with fellow qualifiers Morocco.

One of the tournament favourites in Russia blitzed past Mexico in the first tie, and then Hong Kong in the second, with Mexico set to join the European nation in the next round. Whilst the Central Americans lost to Russia on day one, they bounced back with an easy win over Thailand, and just need to beat the lowest ranked nation Hong Kong in the final round to book a spot, with Thailand – also on one win – facing a surely insurmountable task against Russia.

The Group 2 quarter finals qualifiers are in a similar boat, with another tournament favourite in Germany winning both its ties, defeated Canada and home nation side Turkey, whilst the Canadians put themselves in the hunt with a nice victory over the Turks. With Germany sweeping Hungary, it means that all Canada has to do to qualify for the next stage is defeat Hungary, with Germany set to take care of Turkey in the final round to make the four undefeated qualifiers the four expected ones in Czech Republic, Germany, Japan and Russia.

GROUP 1 RESULTS:

Czech Republic (3) defeated Peru (0)
Argentina (3) defeated Egypt (0)
Peru (2) defeated Argentina (1)
Czech Republic (3) defeated Egypt (0)

GROUP 2 RESULTS:

Germany (3) defeated Canada (0)
Turkey (2) defeated Hungary (1)
Canada (2) defeated Turkey (1)
Germany (2) defeated Hungary (1)

GROUP 3 RESULTS:

Morocco (2) defeated Romania (1)
Japan (3) defeated Chile (0)
Japan (2) defeated Romania (1)
Morocco (2) defeated Chile (1)

GROUP 4 RESULTS:

Russia (3) defeated Mexico (0)
Thailand (3) defeated Hong Kong (0)
Russia (3) defeated Hong Kong (0)
Mexico (2) defeated Thailand (1)

Picture credit: ITF Tennis