Strong New Zealand BJK Cup tennis team named
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 27
The strongest possible New Zealand side for the Billie Jean King Cup Group I (Asia/Oceania) competition next month has been confirmed with Lulu Sun and Erin Routliffe both in the side.
The Group I Asia/Oceania competition runs from 7–11 April in New Delhi and will see six teams from around the region compete in best-of-three ties, featuring two singles matches and one doubles match.
LATEST HEADLINES:
The format is the same as last April, when New Zealand topped their group to progress to the play-off level of the competition, defeating all opponents bar one after promotion had already been secured.
New Zealand are regarded as the strongest team overall with Sun ranked around the 100 mark and Routliffe a former No 1 who is currently 11th in the world and just made the doubles quarters at Miami.
The other players in the team, Monique Barry, Valentina Ivanov and Aishi Das are all competing around the world in pro tournaments or in Das's case juniors and professional events and have all played for New Zealand.
The biggest competition for the kiwi team will most likely come from Indonesia who have world No 40 Janice Tjen named in their squad.
Tjen, a singles title winner on the WTA Tour last year is coached by Auckland-based Chris Bint.
Also in the Indonesian squad is Alida Sutjiadi who has won six WTA doubles titles, one of them with Routliffe.
The other nations in the group are India, Korea Republic, Mongolia, and Thailand.
The New Zealand team:
Erin Routliffe,
Lulu Sun,
Monique Barry,
Valentina Ivanov,
Aishi Das,
Captain: Matt Hair.
