Japanese No.1 Ayumi Morita posted three wins to lead Japan to a 5-0 victory over Slovenia in the Fed Cup tennis World Group II first round tie on Sunday.

The 21-year-old ace, who received the Fed Cup Heart Award last year, overwhelmed Slovenia’s top player Polona Hercog in the deciding set for a 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 victory to take an insurmountable 3-0 lead earlier in the day.

Morita, who defeated Nastja Kolar 2-6 6-4 6-3 on Saturday, completed the best-of-five contest, teaming up with Rika Fujiwara to beat Petra Rampre and Kolar 6-3 5-7 6-0 for the perfect scoreline.

“It was a tough match (against Hercog), but I’m happy that I was able to help Japan win. I’m relieved, it was good that I played tenaciously, although I played aggressively at the same time,” said Morita.

“She played very well, especially her serve. I know that she doesn’t like low and fast balls, and the court is fast here, so I just tried to play aggressively,” she added.

Hercog said: “At 5-5 in the tie-break, I got a pain in the neck and that brought me to tears. Against a player like Morita, I don’t think I have a chance unless I’m 100 percent, and my serve wasn’t 100 per cent.”

“Morita played very aggressively and very flat and she was moving pretty good, and then she started mixing up her serve, too, so it was difficult to play against her,” she added.

Former world No.4 Kimiko Date-Krumm, who won the opener against Hercog 2-6 6-3 6-2 on Saturday, was replaced by Kurumi Nara, the winner over Rampre 6-4 6-4 in the dead rubber in the fourth match.

Japan will reach a play-off in April against the first-round losers of the World Group.