Bulgaria claims PAW Federation Cup

Bulgaria claims PAW Federation Cup

After two of its team members - Hantuchov and ghosts had breakthrough seasons to move finish within the top 3, Bulgaria strengthened by the intelligent bgbgbg claimed the Federation Cup crown quite decisively. Scoring a massive 10.5 lead after day 1, no one doubted the dominance of the top seeds.

Captain Hantuchov who was idle in the semi-finals was a valuable contributor with his day one pick of "Dechy over Kuznetsova" proving their writing on the wall.

Outsiders Hong Kong made a fairytale run to the finals, after beating Serbia, Croatia, Italy and Germany without showing any signs of inexperience. But in the end as team member jrm described it, it was all "too good to be true."

Bulgaria becomes the second Fed Cup champion after India surprised Australia in 2003, however it becomes the first winner of the new PAW Fed Cup format that involves countries facing off each other.


Final 2004 Fed Cup Results:

Final:

BULGARIA (1) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/BUL.gif def. Hong Kong http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/HKG.gif 17.5 to 6.0 pts

Semi-Final:

BULGARIA (1) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/BUL.gif def. Canada http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/CAN.gif 33.0 to 28.3 pts

HONG KONG http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/HKG.gif def. Germany http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/GER.gif 25.5 to 25.3 pts

Quarter-Final:

BULGARIA (1) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/BUL.gif def. Argentina http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ARG.gif 84.50 to 42.67 pts

CANADA (7) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/CAN.gif def. Indonesia (4) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/INA.gif 102.0 to 101.7 pts

GERMANY http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/GER.gif def. Australia (3) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/AUS.gif 86.33 to 63.00 pts

HONG KONG http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/HKG.gif def. Italy http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ITA.gif 72.00 to 69.00 pts

First Round:

BULGARIA (1) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/BUL.gif def. Singapore [SIN] 123.5 to 83.7 pts

ARGENTINA http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ARG.gif def. Spain (6) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ESP.gif 105.0 to 104.5 pts

INDONESIA (4) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/INA.gif def. Great Britain http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/GBR.gif 129.3 to 110.7 pts

CANADA (7) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/CAN.gif def. Israel http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ISR.gif 107 to 69 pts

GERMANY http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/GER.gif def. Belgium (5) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/BEL.gif 119.7 to 74.7 pts

AUSTRALIA (3) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/AUS.gif def. United States http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/USA.gif 112.7 to 77 pts

HONG KONG http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/HKG.gif finished first with 102.7 pts, from Serbia & Montenegro http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/YUG.gif (76) and Croatia (8) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/CRO.gif (64.7)

ITALY http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/ITA.gif def. South Africa (2) http://www.efekt.com.au/data/flags/RSA.gif 83.5 to 68.0 pts


Final Fed Cup placings:

1..Bulgaria
2..Hong Kong
3..Canada
4..Germany
5..Indonesia
6..Australia
7..Argentina
8..Italy
9..Singapore
10.Israel
11.Serbia & Montenegro
--.USA
13.Great Britain
14.Croatia
15.Belgium
16.Spain
17.South Africa

(underlined countries automatically in the World Group for 2005, GBR will replace Italy if they fail to find a team, the other 4 spots will be filled by the top 4 positions of the "Race to the World Group")
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the 2005 Fed Cup World Group Draw will be announced live on April 3rd 2005.

Prior to that all countries will have to announce a captain (not neccessarily the highest ranked)

congrats Bulgaria! :D
nice job Indonesia! :bounce:

This format is really interesting but some teams got screwed over while others were lucky!
Hong Kong who got to the finals should not have even passed the First Round as Spain and Great Britain got higher scores than them.
In the Quarter-Finals, Hong Kong once again slipped into the next round while getting a lower score than Indonesia how lost a close tie to the mighty Canadians ;).
And once again in the Semi-Finals this time, Hong Kong advanced to the next round while Canada had to sit out even though Canada had a better score than them.

Congrats to Hong Kong anyway, but some minor adjustments should be made to the format.