Fighting Kiwi team shows heart in BJK Cup loss to Romania

New Zealand has lost its Billie Jean King Cup Play-off tie against Romania 3–0, despite another day of gutsy performances from this young team.

Vivian Yang lost 6-2 6-1 to Elena Ruxandra Bertea in the opening match. That was followed by Elyse Tse’s 4-6 6-0 6-1 defeat to Gabriela Lee, while Erin Routliffe and Jade Otway lost 6-2 3-6 10-5 to Mara Gae and Monica Niculescu in the doubles.

These results follow New Zealand’s loss to the Iga Swiatek-led Polish side on Friday and it means the team will start next year in Asia/Oceania Group I.

Yang’s match against Bertea was closer than the scoreline suggests, with the Kiwi having five break points in the match, compared to seven for the Romanian. 

However, the difference was that Yang wasn’t able to convert hers, while Bertea broke Yang on five occasions.

Tse played outstandingly well to take the opening set, keeping the pressure on Lee, who is ranked 292 in the world, and looked to play aggressive tennis against her.

But Tse wasn’t able to keep that level up in the second set and had a medical time out at the end of it to receive some treatment on her lower back.

Although Lee kept that momentum going in the third set, Tse never gave up and saved a match point when serving at 0-5 and then held serve.

Lee won the following game to confirm the victory in this tie for Romania.

The doubles was a tight battle, with two of the most experienced players in the world on either side of the net, in Routliffe and Niculescu.

After losing the opening set, New Zealand went down a break early in the second. But then things started to click for Routliffe and Otway as they won six of the next eight games to sent the match the full distance.

The score was 3-3 at the first change of ends in the super tiebreak, but the next two points went the way of the Romanians and they went on to extend that lead to 9-4.

Otway saved the first match point on her serve, but on the second Gae had a fortunate mishit with her return, as the ball flew in between Routliffe and Otway.