Lulu Sun faces potential showdown with Iga Swiatek at Billie Jean King Cup

New Zealand has been placed in a group with Poland and Romania for the Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoffs later this year, giving Lulu Sun a possible chance to face former world No 1, Iga Swiatek.

New Zealand qualified for the playoffs by winning the Asia/Oceania Group I event in India in April.

The draw for the seven playoff groups was made on Thursday, placing New Zealand alongside the two Eastern European nations.

It will be played over three days at Arena Gorzow, Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland from November 14-16.

All the ties in the playoffs comprise of three matches – two singles matches followed by a doubles match.

The seven group winners progress to the 2026 qualifiers. The remaining 14 teams will compete in the 2026 Regional Group I events.

In 2025, the Billie Jean King Cup Finals will transition from a 12 to an eight-team event to mirror the existing Davis Cup Final 8 format. 

The group format for both 2025 qualifiers and playoffs was introduced to accommodate that transition. Home-and-away ties will return in the qualifiers and playoffs from 2026.

The 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals will take place at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena, which previously hosted the 2019 WTA Finals, from 16 to 21 September.

Swiatek regularly plays for Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup, but withdrew from the World Group qualifiers in April against Ukraine and Switzerland as she wanted to spend that time focussing on herself.

Romania’s top ranked player currently is Jaqueline Cristian, who is at 51 in the world.

GROUP A
Club Sonoma, Monterrey, Mexico (hard, outdoors)
Canada [1]
Mexico (H)
Denmark

GROUP B
Arena Gorzow, Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland (hard, indoors)
Poland [2] (H)
Romania
New Zealand

GROUP C
Cordoba Lawn Tennis Club, Cordoba, Argentina (clay, outdoors)
Slovakia [3]
Switzerland
Argentina (H)

GROUP D
Arena Varazdin, Varazdin, Croatia (hard, indoors)
Czechia [4]
Colombia
Croatia (H)

GROUP E
Domain Tennis Centre, Hobart, Australia (hard, outdoors)
Australia [5] (H)
Brazil
Portugal

GROUP F
Tennis Club Ismaning, Ismaning, Germany (hard, indoors)
Germany [6] (H)
Belgium
Turkiye

GROUP G
S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium, Bengaluru, India (hard, outdoors)
Netherlands [7]
Slovenia
India (H)