1998 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I – Knockout Stage
# 1998 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I – Knockout Stage

The Knockout Stage of the 1998 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I was the final stage of the Zonal Competition involving teams from Europe and Africa. Those that qualified for this stage placed first and second in their respective pools.

| Placing | Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Belarus | Poland | South Africa | Sweden |
| 2 | Greece | Portugal | Romania | Ukraine |
| 3 | Slovenia | Great Britain | Latvia | FR Yugoslavia |
| 4 | Israel | Madagascar | Bulgaria | Hungary |

The eight teams were then randomly drawn into two two-stage knockout tournaments, with the winners advancing to the World Group II Play-offs.

## Draw

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Belarus | Belarus | 2 | | | |
| Ukraine | Ukraine | 1 | | | |
| Ukraine | Ukraine | 1 | Belarus | Belarus | 2 |
| | | | South Africa | South Africa | 0 |
| Portugal | Portugal | 0 | South Africa | South Africa | 0 |
| South Africa | South Africa | 3 | | | |
| Poland | Poland | 2 | | | |
| Greece | Greece | 1 | | | |
| Greece | Greece | 1 | Poland | Poland | 2 |
| | | | Romania | Romania | 0 |
| Romania | Romania | 2 | Romania | Romania | 0 |
| Sweden | Sweden | 1 | | | |

### Semifinals

**Belarus vs. Ukraine**

| Belarus 2 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | Ukraine 1 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Olga Barabanschikova Anna Zaporozhanova 6 1 6 1     2 Natasha Zvereva Elena Tatarkova 6 2 6 4     3 Nadejda Ostrovskaya / Tatiana Poutchek Tatiana Kovalchuk / Olga Teplynska $6^6$ $7^8$ 4 6 ||||

**Portugal vs. South Africa**

| Portugal 0 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | South Africa 3 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Cristina Correia Jessica Steck 1 6 3 6     2 Sofia Prazeres Mariaan de Swardt 6 4 2 6 3 6   3 Cristina Correia / Ana Catarina Nogueira Esmé de Villiers / Liezel Horn 3 6 2 6 ||||

**Poland vs. Greece**

| Poland 2 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | Greece 1 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Aleksandra Olsza Eleni Daniilidou 4 6 6 1 6 4   2 Magdalena Grzybowska Christína Papadáki 6 4 6 1     3 Sylwia Rynarzewska / Katarzyna Teodorowicz-Lisowska Eleni Daniilidou / Christína Papadáki 3 6 1 6 ||||

**Romania vs. Sweden**

| Romania 2 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 17 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | Sweden 1 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Alice Pirsu Kristina Triska 4 6 2 6     2 Raluca Sandu Åsa Carlsson 2 6 6 1 8 6   3 Alice Pirsu / Raluca Sandu Åsa Carlsson / Kristina Triska 6 3 3 6 6 3 ||||

### Finals

**Belarus vs. South Africa**

| Belarus 2 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 18 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 18 April 1997 Red clay (outdoors) | South Africa 0 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Olga Barabanschikova Jessica Steck $7^7$ $6^2$ $7^7$ $6^4$     2 Natasha Zvereva Mariaan de Swardt 4 6 6 4 6 2   3          not played ||||

* Belarus advanced to the World Group II Play-offs, where they were drawn against Venezuela. They won 4–1, and thus proceeded to the 1999 World Group II.

**Poland vs. Romania**

| Poland 2 | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 18 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain 18 April 1998 Red clay (outdoors) | Romania 0 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 2 3 1 Aleksandra Olsza Alice Pirsu 7 5 6 1     2 Magdalena Grzybowska Raluca Sandu 7 5 6 1     3          not played ||||

* Poland advanced to the World Group II Play-offs, where they were drawn against Austria. They lost 0–5, and thus fell back to Group I in 1999.
