Fed Cup: Romania defeats Switzerland 3-1 to qualify to World Group I

Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, 1^st WTA, has qualified Romania to the Fed Cup World Group I, with a decisive victory in the playoff tie against Switzerland, hosted by the Cluj-Napoca Polyvalent Hall.

Halep has defeated in two sets, 6-2, 6-1 veteran Patty Schneyer (39, 149^th WTA), who replaced in the Swiss team Timea Bacsinszky.

In the last match, in the doubles, the Swiss pair Viktorija Golubic/Jil Teichmann has defeated 0-6, 6-0, 10-6 the Romanian pair Sorana Cirstea/Mihaela Buzarnescu, to make it 3-1 overall.

“It was better today than on Saturday. It wasn’t easier, but the audience was great and I played better. I hope we’ll go as much as we can in Fed Cup, this is my greatest wish. If we have such an audience, it will hard for us to lose,” Simona Halep said after the match on Sunday.

She added: “I will try to recover after these two difficult days, from the emotional point of view, I need a break a day or two, to calm down, because as of Wednesday I will compete in Stuttgart.”

After day one, Romania’s tennis Fed Cup team led Switzerland 2-0, encounter counting for the pay-off for World Group.

In the first match on Saturday, Simona Halep defeated Viktorija Golubic (115th WTA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, in a tougher encounter than expected, at least in the second set.

The second match was won by Irina Camelia Begu (38^th WTA) against Timea Bacsinszky (46^th WTA) 6-4, 6-1.

Romania will thus promote to Fed Cup World Group I.