FRANKFURT, Germany -- Elna Reinach and Mariaan De Swardt combined to beat Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert 6-2, 7-5, giving 14th-seeded South Africa a 2-1 upset over the No. 7 seed Netherlands at the Federation Cup.
Oremans beat Reinach 6-4, 7-5 in the opening singles but Joannette Kruger, ranked 60th by the WTA Tour, got South Africa even Wednesday by upsetting 25th-ranked Brenda Schultz 6-4, 6-0.
Reinach and De Swardt then used the momentum to complete the upset and put South Africa into quarterfinals.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, France and Japan swept to 3-0 victories and host Germany beat Slovakia 2-1, advancing them to the quarterfinals.
France's Julie Halard easily beat Italy's Silvia Farina in the first set, struggled with her serve in the second but rallied to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Mary Pierce breezed through her first set against Sandra Cecchini.
She, too, stumbled before winning 6-0, 6-3. Cecchini seemed to rally at the start of the second set, taking a 0-40 lead. But Pierce recovered, fighting off five break points to win the opening game and then breaking Cecchini to lead 2-0.
Then it was Cecchini's turn to break and hold, evening the set at 2-2. She broke Pierce to take a 3-2 lead but it was her last gasp, dropping four games to give Pierce and France the victory.
Nathalie Tauziat and Halard completed the shutout, routing Rita Grande and Marzia Grossi 6-4, 6-1.
In another match, Naoko Sawamatsu beat Maria Strandlund 6-4, 6-3, and Kimiko Date dumped Asa Carlsson 6-2, 7-5 to lead Japan over Sweden.
Date and Mana Endo finished with 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-2 doubles win over Strandlund and Maria Lindstrom.
Germany had a tougher time with Sabine Hack fighting to win over Slovakia's Radka Zrubakova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
The Slovakian's tactic of moon balls threw Hack off stride.
"I wasn't prepared for the high balls and started playing a little too hectic. I wasn't patient enough," Hack said.
Germany's Anke Huber also had to fight to defeat Slovakia's Karin Habsudova 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
In the doubles Slovakia dominated with Habsudova and Jenette Husarova winning over Germany's Barbara Rittner and Christine Singer 6-4, 6-3.
Thursday's matches pitted the United States against Canada, Spain against Argentina, Austria against Australia, and Bulgaria against Indonesia. Spain is defending champion and No. 1 seed, with the United States seeded second.
In women's tennis, at the $150,000 Pathmark Women's Tennis Classic in Mahwah, New Jersey, Georgia's first-year pro Nino Louarsabishvili, 17, scored a second-round upset over second-seeded Czech Jana Novotna 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 on Wednesday.
Fourth-seeded Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic, fifth seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Switzerland and seventh-seeded American Pam Shriver also advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-set wins.
Louarsabishvili, number one in the world junior rankings and 265th among the pros, fought off a match point in a tiebreaker and came on strong in the final set by breaking Novotna's service game four consecutive times.
"I'm so happy, this is my biggest victory," said Louarsabishvili, who lost the first five games of the match.
In men's tennis Wednesday, Stefan Edberg, revived by his break from tennis after Wimbledon, routed Alex Antonitsch 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the $650,000 D.C. Tennis Classic.
Edberg, the second seed, beat the 28-year-old Austrian in 62 minutes. Three other seeds did not fare so well, with No. 3 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, No. 9 MaliVai Washington and No. 12 Amos Mansdorf of Israel, the defending champion, all losing.
Ferreira dropped a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-1 decision to Byron Black of Zimbabwe. Washington struggled for the second straight day, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to David Wheaton. And Mansdorf was beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 by Brett Steven of New Zealand.
In all, seven seeds won second-round matches, including No. 4 Marc Rosset of Switzerland, No. 6 Jaime Yzaga of Peru, No. 7 Ivan Lendl and No. 8 Aaron Krickstein. Edberg, playing for the first time since being eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon last month, broke serve five times and won 74 percent of the total match points.
In Stuttgart, Germany top-seeded Michael Stich advanced into the third round of the $1.04 million Mercedes Cup tournament with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory over fellow German Carsten Arriens.
(AP, Reuters)
Oremans beat Reinach 6-4, 7-5 in the opening singles but Joannette Kruger, ranked 60th by the WTA Tour, got South Africa even Wednesday by upsetting 25th-ranked Brenda Schultz 6-4, 6-0.
Reinach and De Swardt then used the momentum to complete the upset and put South Africa into quarterfinals.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, France and Japan swept to 3-0 victories and host Germany beat Slovakia 2-1, advancing them to the quarterfinals.
France's Julie Halard easily beat Italy's Silvia Farina in the first set, struggled with her serve in the second but rallied to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Mary Pierce breezed through her first set against Sandra Cecchini.
She, too, stumbled before winning 6-0, 6-3. Cecchini seemed to rally at the start of the second set, taking a 0-40 lead. But Pierce recovered, fighting off five break points to win the opening game and then breaking Cecchini to lead 2-0.
Then it was Cecchini's turn to break and hold, evening the set at 2-2. She broke Pierce to take a 3-2 lead but it was her last gasp, dropping four games to give Pierce and France the victory.
Nathalie Tauziat and Halard completed the shutout, routing Rita Grande and Marzia Grossi 6-4, 6-1.
In another match, Naoko Sawamatsu beat Maria Strandlund 6-4, 6-3, and Kimiko Date dumped Asa Carlsson 6-2, 7-5 to lead Japan over Sweden.
Date and Mana Endo finished with 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-2 doubles win over Strandlund and Maria Lindstrom.
Germany had a tougher time with Sabine Hack fighting to win over Slovakia's Radka Zrubakova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
The Slovakian's tactic of moon balls threw Hack off stride.
"I wasn't prepared for the high balls and started playing a little too hectic. I wasn't patient enough," Hack said.
Germany's Anke Huber also had to fight to defeat Slovakia's Karin Habsudova 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
In the doubles Slovakia dominated with Habsudova and Jenette Husarova winning over Germany's Barbara Rittner and Christine Singer 6-4, 6-3.
Thursday's matches pitted the United States against Canada, Spain against Argentina, Austria against Australia, and Bulgaria against Indonesia. Spain is defending champion and No. 1 seed, with the United States seeded second.
In women's tennis, at the $150,000 Pathmark Women's Tennis Classic in Mahwah, New Jersey, Georgia's first-year pro Nino Louarsabishvili, 17, scored a second-round upset over second-seeded Czech Jana Novotna 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 on Wednesday.
Fourth-seeded Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic, fifth seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Switzerland and seventh-seeded American Pam Shriver also advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-set wins.
Louarsabishvili, number one in the world junior rankings and 265th among the pros, fought off a match point in a tiebreaker and came on strong in the final set by breaking Novotna's service game four consecutive times.
"I'm so happy, this is my biggest victory," said Louarsabishvili, who lost the first five games of the match.
In men's tennis Wednesday, Stefan Edberg, revived by his break from tennis after Wimbledon, routed Alex Antonitsch 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the $650,000 D.C. Tennis Classic.
Edberg, the second seed, beat the 28-year-old Austrian in 62 minutes. Three other seeds did not fare so well, with No. 3 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, No. 9 MaliVai Washington and No. 12 Amos Mansdorf of Israel, the defending champion, all losing.
Ferreira dropped a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-1 decision to Byron Black of Zimbabwe. Washington struggled for the second straight day, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to David Wheaton. And Mansdorf was beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 by Brett Steven of New Zealand.
In all, seven seeds won second-round matches, including No. 4 Marc Rosset of Switzerland, No. 6 Jaime Yzaga of Peru, No. 7 Ivan Lendl and No. 8 Aaron Krickstein. Edberg, playing for the first time since being eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon last month, broke serve five times and won 74 percent of the total match points.
In Stuttgart, Germany top-seeded Michael Stich advanced into the third round of the $1.04 million Mercedes Cup tournament with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory over fellow German Carsten Arriens.
(AP, Reuters)
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