The presence of ace Ai Sugiyama was sorely missed Saturday as host Japan went down 2-0 to Argentina in the opening singles matches of their Fed Cup World Zone first-round encounter.
World No. 54 Shinobu Asagoe was upset by 166th-ranked Clarisa Fernandez, failing to salvage a share of the opening-day spoils after Saori Obata was brushed aside by Emilia Salerni in Saturday's first match at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.
Asagoe went down 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 while Obata, ranked 142nd in the world, was taken out 6-4, 6-2 by 118th-ranked Emilia Salernia, leaving Japan with all the work to do in Sunday's reverse singles.
The singles will be played before Yuka Yoshida and Rika Hiraki are to square off with Salerni and Laura Montalvo in a doubles match, if necessary, in the best-of-five meeting.
Sugiyama, world No. 1 in the double rankings and 47th in the singles list, is sitting out the two-day series to concentrate on her play on the world circuit.