THE Irish women's team have started well in the Federation Cup, beating Tunisia and Algeria, in the European qualifying Group 11 in Antalya, Turkey.

And the opening encounter against Tunisia saw a return to winning form by Karen Nugent, the talented Dubliner who had been sidelined through illness over the past year. She lost only one game to Ines Zouabi 6-1 6-0 in a brief match.

Gina Niland, the Irish number one, who is returning to competitive play after foot surgery lost out to Selima Sfar 2-6 0-6. The doubles went to the Irish pairing of Nugent and Niland 6-4 6-4.

Yesterday's second round match with Algeria saw Niland recover her singles form ousting Bouchaboug 6-0 6-2. The win was very welcome after Zara Wolseley had gone down to Hamgurlaine 6-0 6-1. Niland and Nugent again combined effectively to win the doubles. Team captain Pete Lowther reckons that his team stand an excellent chance of winning the group and thus automatically qualify for Group One in the Euro/African division next year.

Yugoslavia are the favourites but Lowther's players are confident that they can repeat their success over them of two years ago in Kenya. They are the same team. Lowther sees this tie tomorrow as the key to the group. "We should beat Iceland and the Cameroons on Friday," he says.