Kiwis fight hard against star-studded Poland in BJK Cup showdown

Vivian Yang put up a brave battle while Elyse Tse had an experience she’ll never forget by playing against Iga Swiatek in New Zealand’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against Poland.

New Zealand lost the Billie Jean King Cup Play-off tie in Gorzow Wielkopolski, 3-0, with Erin Routliffe and Jade Otway losing to Linda Klimovicova and Martyna Kubka 6-2 6-2.

It was always going to be a tough battle for this young New Zealand team against a vastly more experienced Polish team, cheered on by a large passionate crowd at Arena Gorzow.

But even though the tie was lost, the Matt Hair captained team can take a lot from this experience.

The day started with Yang going up against Katarzyna Kawa, who is ranked 124 in the world, compared to Yang, who plays US college tennis at Virginia Tech University.

Yet despite this being a rare opportunity for Yang to play someone at the 32-year-old’s level, she wasn’t overawed by the experience and put up a good fight in the 6-4 6-4 defeat.

Yang was able to break Kawa twice in each set, but although the Kiwi had a good first serve percentage, at 76.9%, she was broken on three occasions in each set.

But it was a gutsy display from the 20-year-old Yang, who again showed how much potential she has.

Next up was Tse, against the world No 2 and six-time grand slam champion.

Swiatek won the match 6-0 6-1, but Tse never gave up fighting and at 3-0 down in the second set, won a game on her serve, putting down a few serves that Swiatak struggled to get back.

Tse raised both arms in the air when she won that game, and she received a cheer from the crowd, pleased that she had avoided the double bagel.

Swiatek got back into her groove, to win the remaining games in the match, but for Tse this was an invaluable experience that she can build on, getting a close up look at what a player at Swiatek’s level can do.

This was followed by the doubles rubber, where Erin Routliffe and Jade Otway came up against a resilient Polish duo.

Routliffe’s serve was broken at 2-3 in the opening set and two games later Otway’s serve was also broken.

New Zealand went a break down early in the second set and Otway’s serve was broken once more at 2-5.

The New Zealand team will take on Romania Sunday morning (NZT).