HASSELT, Belgium — Estonia fought admirably in the face of defeat at the semifinal stage of the Fed Cup, falling 3-2 to Belgium.

Attempting to qualify for the Fed Cup’s top-tier competition — World Group — for the first time, Estonia have been halted by an impressive Belgian outfit at the semi-final stage of the Fed Cup’s second-tier competition World Group playoffs.

Defeating Belgium was going to take a miracle from the Estonians, with their opposition greatly bolstered by former world no. 1s Justine Henin and Kim Klijsters who have both returned from retirement in recent times. Ranked 24th and 11th in the world respectively they were by no means the only stars of the Belgian squad which also included current world no. 12 Yanina Wickmayer and no. 72 Kirsten Flipkens.

Compare this to the Estonia, whose top-ranked player Kaia Kanepi is currently tumbling down the world rankings to be sitting at 126 and you begin to get an understanding of just how much stronger the Belgians were.

But this did not stop the Estonians from competing with great determination and belief, winning two of the five rubbers and forcing two of the remaining three rubbers to three sets.

Belgium showed their strength on Saturday as Klijsters quickly got Belguim on top with an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Estonian no.2 Maret Ani. This would be the end of action for Klijsters, who sustained an injury in the victory which may limit her playing time in coming weeks.

Kanepi played hard to claim a set from Wickmayer in the second rubber but was ultimately outplayed in the other two sets to fall 2-6, 6-4, 1-6.

Having lost both the opening rubbers on Saturday Kanepi needed to be at her best to keep Estonia in the tie in Sunday’s first return singles match. Playing against Henin, it was the Belgian claiming the early advantage by winning the open set 7-6 (6) in a tie-breaker.

But from here on in it was Kanepi’s match, going onto to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-3, giving the Estonians a glimmer of hope.

Dreams of an upset continued to gain ground when Ani raced out to a 1 set advantage over Wickmayer, winning the opening set 6-2.

But Wickmayer showed her class to quickly recover and take the next to sets in similar ease to which Ani had claimed the first, winning 2-6. 6-2, 6-2.

Lining up for the final rubber with nothing but pride to play for, Estonia showed they had plenty with Ani teaming up with Margit Ruutel to defeat Flipkens and Wickmayer 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Although there will be plenty of disappointment within the Estonian camp for having played so well with no reward, the players on an individual level will take a lot from the way they performed against some of the top females currently playing in the women’s game.

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