U.S. leads at Federation Cup
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See the article in its original context from July 1990.
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The top-seeded Americans, opening their defence of the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, lost just five games in sweeping their two singles matches and one doubles, and the other seeded teams in action also won all three of their matches without dropping a set.
Third-seeded Austria beat Bulgaria, sixth-seeded Italy defeated Finland and seventh-seeded Czechoslovakia beat South Korea. Garrison, fourth in the world and the highest-ranked player in the tournament, beat 197thranked Katarzyna Nowak 6-0 6-1. The 1990 Wimbledon finalist's only loss of a game came at 5-0 in the second set, and she quickly resumed her untouchable form in the last game, winning at the net with an overhand shot into a court left empty by her desperately scrambling opponent.
Fourteen-year-old Jennifer Capriati, who has rocketed to a 13th-place ranking in just five months as a professional, fell behind 2-3 on unforced errors before regaining her concentration to defeat 537th-ranked Magdalena Mroz 6-3 6-1.
In the doubles, Garrison and Gigi Fernandez beat Mroz and unranked Renata Skrzypzynska 6-0 6-0 in just a half-hour.
Garrison said Capriati's minor scare had reminded her to stay focused from the start and she did not let her opponents in the game in either the singles or the doubles.
The Poles for their part were bubbling over with excitement at having played on centre court against such illustrious opponents, and said they were grateful for the valuable playing experience they had gained.
The Polish players pointed out that their country has no hardcourts and said that only through competitions like the Federation Cup could they hope to gain the experience of playing such top-flight opponents.
The United States will play Belgium on Wednesday. Second-seeded Spain opens against Canada on Tuesday and the fourth-seeded Soviet Union will play Brazil. knockouts. He had planned to pressure Lim, 107 1-2 (48.70), with each round. Lim, 25, was rated the top contender by the WBC. He fell to 12-5 with four knockouts and was outwitted by Gonzalez's switch punching. Gonzalez opened the bout by leading with his right, then late in the second round he switched to his left hand with Lim fighting defensively.
In the third, Gonzalez continued with punishing left upper cuts. Lim came out fast in the fourth, driving Gonzalez to the ropes with a left to the jaw. Gonzalez spent most of the round on the ropes with Lim throwing punch after punch.
In the final 10 seconds of the fourth, Gonzalez roared off the ropes, and hauled out a straight left which floored Lim. "Korean fighters are very tough," Gonzalez had said. He won his title 13 months ago with a decision over Lee Yul Woo in South Korea.
In an undercard, Jose Luis Vega Gil of Bell, California, came from behind to knock out Mike Phelps, Galena Park, Texas in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-round bantamweight fight.
