Bermuda made an inauspicious start to their campaign at the Billie Jean King Cup Americas group three tournament in Tacarigua, Trinidad & Tobago, yesterday.

Neal Towlson’s team found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Costa Rica in their opening round-robin match contested on the hard courts at the National Racquet Sport Centre.

In the singles, Shelby Madeiros lost 6-1, 6-2 to Lucia Gallegos and Nadhira Durham went down 6-1, 6-1 to Nicole Alfaro, before Zoë Fisher and Alexcie Burrows were blanked 6-0, 6-0 by Alexandra Cordero and Allison Blanco in the doubles.

“Overall, the matches were competitive,” Bermuda women’s team coach Towlson told The Royal Gazette. “There were some initial nerves, but each player came out ready to play.

“Now that we have some match play behind us, the team is more confident and prepared for tomorrow’s matches against Aruba.

“We look forward to seeing the continued progress and spirit from our players.”