Pacific Oceania

The regional team side secured promotion to Asia/Oceania Zone Group One last weekend after winning all four of their matches in Bahrain.

Team captain Gilles De Gouy said playing against regional giants like China and Korea in 2019 would hopefully open the door to more opportunities and resources.

The composite team swept Malaysia to finish with a perfect 9-0 record across their three pool matches.

Samoa's Steffi Carruthers edged two tiebreaks and came from a break down to beat Theiviya Selvarajoo 7-6 7-6 in the first singles rubber.

Abigail Tere-Apisah from Papua New Guinea eased past Suhana Sofia 6-2 6-0 in the second match before the pair combined to win the doubles 6-4 6-2.

As top qualifiers in Pool C, Pacific Oceania will take on Pool B winners Singapore in Saturday's semi finals, which double as a play-off for promotion to Group One.

The women finished in a share of fifth place last week in Asia/Oceania Zone Group Two, while the men defeated Turkmenistan to avoid relegation from Group Three.

This is the third year since the Pacific Oceania Fed Cup team was revived and captain Patrice Cotti said they travelled to Tajikistan with high hopes.

"Last year we lost against Philippines and Philippines was promoted so this year we expected to make a good result," he said.

Tahiti's Heve Kelley defeated Yacoub Makzoume 6-3 1-6 6-2 in the opening singles rubber in Colombo before Colin Sinclair from the Northern Marianas sealed the result, beating Kareem Al Allaf 6-4 6-0 in his debut match.

The doubles pairing of Brett Baudinet and Aymeric Mara were unable to complete the clean sweep, losing in three sets.

Hosts Sri Lanka also made a winning start in Pool A, beating Jordan 2-1, while Lebanon and Qatar had 2-1 victories over Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates.