Opening match of the 2005 Junior Fed Cup Finals 9th – 12th place positional playoffs saw No. 6 seeds Netherlands defeat a gallant Hong Kong team, as Venise Chan again took her opposing number to a deciding set before falling to the Dutch clay specialist, Babs van Kampen, in a long, drawn-out baseline battle, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. [Playoffs Draw]

The Hong Kong Junior Fed Cup Team will play its final match in Barcelona against fifth-seeded Canada in the 11th – 12th place playoff decider later today after Xia Jia-Ping's eighth-seeded Chinese team had upset the Canadians earlier on Friday. [Results – Day 4]

Even without their injured star player, 15-year-old junior world No. 32, Renée Reinhard, the girls from Holland were still a tad too adept on the slow red stuff for Team HK to handle.

HKTA Head Coach, Benny Lin, reports from the City of Barcelona: "The girls did their very best but the Dutch team was just a bit too strong for us today. Both of their singles players are clay court specialists, as they can move not only gracefully, but speedily on clay and with great anticipation. That, essentially, was the difference. On Sunday, however, we will play our final match against (5)Canada for the 11th - 12th position."

Although Dutch number two, van Kampen, has yet to hold a significant singles title, she does own a couple of prominent European junior G14U doubles titles – the ETA C1 Teen Tennis in England and the ETA C1 Windmill Cup in Holland (with Renée Reinhard) – plus two ITF G4 doubles with Nicolette van Uitert at the Leeuwenbergh Open and Leeuwenbergh 2 this year.

In the three losses she has had at the Junior Fed Cup World Finals here in Barcelona, Venise had battled all her clay-specialist counterparts to a standstill before going down in a third-set decider. Not too scrappy for a player who had never before competed in a clay court tournament in her life.

At number one singles, Zhang Ling went down against 14-year-old Nicolette van Uitert, who took the place of injured Dutch number one, Renée Reinhard. However, van Uitert still proved way too solid and consistent for the HK Junior Fed Cupper, as Zhang Ling went down in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.

Incidentally, Team Holland's injured star player, Renée Reinhard, had reached the quarterfinals of the Grade A Italian Open this year and the last sixteen of the GB1 European Individual Junior Championships . The fifteen year-old beat Julia Cohen of USA (WTA No. 475) on her way to the round of sixteen at the US Open Junior Championships at Flushing Meadows last month before getting ousted by eventual champion and junior world No.1, Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus.

As a side note, Team HK had an off day on Saturday and got a chance to see the renowned Placa Catalunya, often referred to as the most central point of the City of Barcelona. Word has it that during fiesta times – and this apparently happens a lot in the Catalan – numerous live performances by local musicians can be seen at the Placa Catalunya and the square would all of a sudden be jam-packed with onlookers (see [Photo Gallery]).

Match Report
By HKTA Head Coach, Benny Lin, from Barcelona

Babs van Kampen (NED) d. Venise Chan (HKG) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Venise made tons of unforced errors today because her opponent was a very consistent baseliner. The Dutch girl doesn’t overpower you, but gets everything back - high, deep balls - thus Venise couldn’t play her counter-attacking game as her opponent doesn't give you the luxury of pace to work with. She also moves very gracefully on the surface - a true clay-court player with fast feet and good anticipation. The match was very close and it could’ve easily gone either way, but in the third set, Venise was rushing her shots and took too many high-risk chances (she attacked too early).

I told her from the sideline that there are no shortcuts on clay. If you have to hit 20 balls to win one point, then that's what you must do! She was able to do that and that was what won her the second set. After trailing 4-1 in the third set, she fought her way back to 4-3, but then lost her patience again. Another reason that Venise lost was because her opponent knows how to play good defense on the slow stuff, while Venise does not have much of a defensive game needed for clay court tennis. Nevertheless, Venise fought extremely hard and it was a good learning experience for her.

Nicolette van Uitert (NED) d. Zhang Ling (HKG) 6-2 7-5
Zhang Ling’s opponent is definitely a class above - at least today on clay. She was more solid, consistent and stronger in many ways. Zhang Ling had no answer to her opponent’s aggressive but also consistent game, and quickly surrendered the first set. In the second set, I told Zhang Ling that she must attack first and avoid getting attacked or moved around. She went all out to unleash all her powerful groundstrokes off both wings. The tactic went well and she had a few chances at 5-5, however, at the end the Dutch girl was just too solid for Zhang Ling today. Just like Venise, Zhang Ling lost this match because she had no defensive game needed for clay at all. She and Venise could play offense as good as anyone. But there is no balance between their offensive and defensive games, which put them under a lot of pressure. If her opponent could make her run side to side, that’s pretty much the end of it. Zhang Ling gave all she had, and this match has been a good learning experience for Zhang Ling as well.

Results
Junior Fed Cup World Finals
Real Club de Polo, Barcelona
September 27-October 2, 2005

Day Four (30 Sep 2005)

9th – 12th Place Playoffs
(6)NETHERLANDS defeated HONG KONG   3 – 0
Babs van Kampen (NED) d. Venise Chan (HKG) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Nicolette van Uitert (NED) d. Zhang Ling (HKG) 6-2 7-5
Babs van Kampen/Nicolette van Uitert (NED) d. Zhang Ling/Jessica Yang (HKG) 6-2 7-6(5)

Venise Chan photo courtesy of www.itftennis.com