A lone break of serve was all that separated Hong Kong and Indonesia, as Yayuk Basuki teamed with Jessy Rompies to beat Zhang Ling and Wu Ho Ching, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, in the decisive doubles to seal a narrow 2-1 victory in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Promotional Playoff.

The win secured Indonesia a place in Group I for 2012, while Hong Kong will remain in Group II for the fourth consecutive campaign next year following the initial drop from Group I in 2008.

First up against Ayu-Fani Damayanti (WTA 456) at No. 2 singles on Saturday, fifteen year-old Katherine Ip was faced with a ranked professional for the first time in her career.

Damayanti, who has won seven singles and eleven doubles titles on the pro circuit, simply possessed too much game and experience for the Fed Cup debutante from Hong Kong, as she powered to a swift, 6-1, 6-1 victory to give her team a 1-0 lead.

"Katherine kept her composure well enough and she fought gamely against an experienced Fed Cupper and WTA top-500 player," said Hong Kong Fed Cup Captain Yu Hiu Tung. "To capitulate under the circumstances would have been easy, but Katherine tried as best she could and didn't give up tamely."

Earlier in the week, Katherine Ip also started at the two spot and managed to come up with 6-0, 6-0, wins against both Turkmenistan and Singapore.

Against Lavinia Tananta (WTA 355) at No. 1 singles, Zhang Ling was faced with a must-win situation for the first time last week.

Even though she has a perfect 4-0 record against the Indo number one, who made her pro circuit debut at age 15, it was Tananta who made the brighter start.

With her forehand a little off in the early going, Zhang Ling was unable to dictate the points with the sort of power and control the four previous times they faced each other. That gave Tananta the chance to engage in more drawn-out rallies and she was beginning to outmanoeuvre Zhang Ling and put her on the back foot instead.

Tananta, who is the more nimble of the two, broke midway through to capture the opening set, 6-3.

Adhering to the Captain's advice to just trust her swing, Zhang Ling began to find her groove again after the changeover. Unable to cope with the sudden onslaught, Tananta lost serve twice to yield the second set, 6-2.

The final set, however, was a dog fight all the way with both players having ample opportunities to put a stranglehold on the match. Yet whenever opportunities presented themselves, heavy-handedness would inadvertently wreck any indication of ascendency by either player.

It was still neck-and-neck until the tenth game when the Indonesian number one was serving to stay in the match trailing 5-4. After a couple of hurried miscues that sailed wide, Tananta faced two match points at 15-40.

However, it was then Zhang Ling's turn to go for a little too much, too early, as a string of deuces later saw Tananta make the hold to force a 5-5 deadlock.

Throughout the day, Zhang Ling's serve never wavered and it again won her some important points in the following game to hold serve to take a momentous 6-5 lead.

With the pressure back on her counterpart, Tananta again cracked as she kept missing the lines. After producing another match-saver to peg the deficit momentarily back to 15-40, Zhang Ling finally came good on her sixth match point to break for the set and the match, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Zhang Ling then returned to court after a short recess to team up with Wu Ho Ching for the deciding doubles bearing in mind that the latter has never faced a ranked professional before in her career.

The HK duo was up against Jessy Rompies (Doubles No. 266), who has won five pro circuit doubles titles, and Yayuk Basuki (Doubles No. 179), whose presence alone makes them the overwhelming favourite.

In her career, Basuki has won six singles and nine doubles titles at the WTA Tour level. In ITF pro circuit events, she has won five singles and a jaw-dropping twenty-five doubles titles. She qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships three years in a row from 1996-98. In 1998, Basuki and her partner, Caroline Vis, beat the world No. 1 tandem of Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna.

Even though Basuki has not played a Fed Cup tie since 2001, that year she went undefeated in all Group I matches and the subsequent World Group II contest against Austria as well.

So the deciding doubles began according to script, as the Indonesian duo showed their doubles prowess by attacking any short second serves and connecting on a number of forecourt intercepts, with Wu Ho Ching being on the receiving end on several of those occasions.

Yet in the second set, the HK team made a fight back.

Hong Kong Team Coach, Goran Bosalevski reports: "Tiffany [Wu Ho Ching] lifted her game here and hit some very good returns (and many made back in play throughout the match), as well as picking up some good reflex volleys at the net and finishing some piercing volleys following Ling's groundstrokes."

"Once we won the 2nd set I really believed, at worst, that we were 50-50 in winning. Jessy Rompies was very very tight and in the 2nd set on set point for HK, she hit her forehand approach and it bounced before the net. We were up 1-0 in the 3rd set, Ling held her serve but then to my surprise, Jessy lifted her game, especially her serve and she didn't break down as much as I had envisaged."

He went on, "Tiffany's serve was broken in the 3rd set and unfortunately from there (and in the whole deciding set) we didn't have any break point chances. Overall there were quite a few breaks in this match, all of which were in the 1st and 2nd sets (2nd set we were up 4-1). The 1st set the girls played some good points but were outplayed by the Indonesians and the set went quickly. The girls tried to keep steady in the 2nd set and this paid dividends. The Indonesians started to miss, and it was here that Rompies began to get tight."

"Basuki in the end was the difference, being the steadiest player on the court throughout the whole match. Also a telling difference was that the Indonesians we more proficient overall at the net with alot of poaching compared to the HK team. It has to be said Ling served very well in this match and came up with the goods on it a number of times when it was needed."

"Both the Captain and I were very pleased with effort the girls put forward, nearly snatching a victory, which on paper before the match, should have been a comfortable victory for the Indonesians," was the final word from Nonthaburi.

Results
Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Group II
National Tennis Centre, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Week of Jan 31, 2011

Group B (Round Robins)

Day One (Feb 2)

HONG KONG defeated TURKMENISTAN 3-0
R-1 Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Amangul Mollayeva (TKM) 6-0 6-0
R-2 Zhang Ling (HKG) d. Anastasiya Prenko 6-0 6-0
R-3 Zhang Ling/Wu Ho Ching (HKG) d. Jenneta Halliyeva/Anastasiya Prenko (TKM) 6-0 6-3

Day Two (Feb 3)

HONG KONG defeated SINGAPORE 3-0
R-1 Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Clare Fong (SIN) 6-0 6-0
R-2 Zhang Ling (HKG) d. Stefanie Tan 6-3 6-2
R-3 Zhang Ling/Wu Ho Ching (HKG) d. Clare Fong/Wee Khee Yen (SIN) 6-0 6-0

Day Three (Feb 4)

HONG KONG defeated OMAN 3-0
R-1 Wu Ho Ching (HKG) d. Sarah AL BALUSHI (OMA) 6-0 6-1
R-2 Zhang Ling (HKG) d. Fatma AL NABHANI (OMA) 6-2 1-6 6-1
R-3 Katherine Ip/Ki Yan Tung (HKG) d. Maliha AL-AWAIDY/Sarah AL BALUSHI (OMA) 6-0 6-1

Promotional Playoff

Day Four (Feb 5)

INDONESIA defeated HONG KONG 2-1
Ayu-Fani DAMAYANTI (INA) d. Katherine IP (HKG) 6-1 6-1
ZHANG Ling (HKG) d. Lavinia TANANTA (INA) 3-6 6-2 7-5
Yayuk BASUKI/Jessy ROMPIES (INA) d. WU Ho Ching/ZHANG Ling (HKG) 6-1 4-6 6-4

Indonesia gains promotion to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in 2012, while Hong Kong will remain in Asia/Oceania Zone Group II next year.