another 3-0 drubbing at the Fed Cup tennis tournament in the Dominican Republic yesterday.

Following 3-0 losses to Jamaica, Cuba and Bolivia, the Bermuda women came up against a Costa Rica team also looking for their first win of the tournament.

But any hope of victory was quickly quashed in the two singles matches with 16-year-old Danielle Paynter and Kim Simmons suffering straight set losses.

Paynter went down to Melissa Golfin 6-0, 6-1, while Simmons was swept off court 6-1, 6-1 by Paula Umana.

Doubles pair Kelly Holland and Simmons raced to a 6-3 first set victory over Paola Almeida and Milena Leiva but then lost the next two 6-4, 6-2 in a match which manager Jerome Bradshaw said "they really should have won''. "In fact,'' said Bradshaw, "none of the final scores were really reflective of the matches. In the singles, the points were long and a lot of the games went to deuce.'' Asked, after four straight defeats, whether the Bermuda team were now lacking in confidence, Bradshaw replied: "Not really. We knew it was going to be tough and our spirits are still high.'' Bermuda today face a hard match against group favourites Uruguay who yesterday defeated Cuba 2-1.

Tomorrow they meet El Salvador and close out their Americas Zone Group III play on Sunday against Antigua/Barbuda. "That's one we should win ... I'll be really disappointed if we don't,'' added Bradshaw.

Bermuda's fourth player in the Dominican Republic is Debra Darrell who didn't play yesterday.