Lulu Sun Leads New Zealand Billie Jean King Cup Team

World number 45 Lulu Sun will headline the New Zealand women's tennis team as they seek promotion in their Asia/Oceania Group 1 event, being held in Pune, India from 8-12 April.

The event features national teams from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, India, Korea Republic and Thailand alongside New Zealand, with the top two teams qualifying for World Group Play-Offs in November.

The New Zealand squad, who will be seeded fourth at the event, features Lulu Sun, WTA ranking of 45, alongside Kiwi number two Monique Barry who has a WTA ranking of 486 and 263 in singles and doubles respectively, and three young debutants in Aishi Das, Sasha Situe and Renee Zhang.

Kiwi Erin Routliffe, who has been a regular feature in the NZ team is unavailable for the April event due to her schedule conflicts. A number of players were unable to be released from college and schedule commitments.

Matt Hair returns as team captain after leading the side in last year's event in China where New Zealand finished third on count-back.

The event features a round-robin format, with national teams competing in head-to-head ties each day, made up of two singles and one doubles rubber.

Live scoring available at www.billiejeankingcup.com from 8 April.