Pacific Oceania have been swept 3-0 by China in their opening Fed Cup tennis match in Asia/Oceania Zone Group One.
Papua New Guinea's Violet Apisah was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Zhaoxuan Yang in the opening singles rubber in Astana, Kazakhstan, on her Fed Cup debut.
World number 342 Abigail Tere Apisah was then outclassed 6-1 6-2 by world number 40 Shuai Zhang to put the result beyond doubt.
Violet Apisah (PNG), Carol Lee (CNMI), Abigail Tere-Apisah (PNG) and Steffi Carruthers (SAM) at the Fed Cup dinner in Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Facebook
The Pacific Oceania number one combined with Samoa's Steffi Carruthers for the doubles dead rubber, where the duo won the opening set 6-3 against Saisai Zheng and Yifan Xu, who is ranked 18th in the world in the format.
However, the Chinese duo proved ultimately too strong, levelling the match 6-3 before taking the deciding set 6-4.
Pacific Oceania's next pool match is against Indonesia, who were also beaten 3-0 in their opening tie against South Korea, while hosts Kazakhstan swept Thailand 3-0 in the other pool.
The top team in Group One will be promoted to the World Group next season, with the bottom two teams to be relegated.