BJK CUP: AUSTRALIA AIMING TO PULL OFF 'ENORMOUS UPSET' OVER KAZAKHSTAN
- Dale Roberts
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Australia takes on heavyweights Kazakhstan in Thursday's opening Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie.
The tie is part of the BJK Cup Group D qualifiers, where the winner earns a spot in November's Finals.
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Australia, Kazakhstan and Colombia will face off over the next three days on Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane.
Although Australia is the seeded team, Kazakhstan goes into the tie and the group as the clear favourites, boasted by world No.10 Elena Rybakina and world No.21 Yulia Putintseva.
Although the Aussies now have 14th-ranked Daria Kasatkina, she is currently ineligible to play in the BJK Cup for her new nation.
Australia will be led by Kimberly Birrell (world No.61), Maya Joint (No.78), and Ajla Tomljanović (No.79) in the singles, while doubles specialist Ellen Perez and Storm Hunter, returning from injury, complete the team.
Although Australia aren’t in pole position to win, that isn’t phasing Team Captain Sam Stosur.
"If we’re going to get called the underdogs, we’ll embrace that," she said.
"There are no guarantees it’ll go either way, but all you can do is do your best that you can do that day, and hopefully it goes our way.
"You can create enormous upsets in this competition, as we’ve seen over many years."
Who will be the No.2 for Australia?
The tie will see each nation’s No.2 choice play each other first, followed by the No.1 players, with the doubles the final match in the best-of-three format.
With three Aussie players so close to each other in the rankings, who gets picked to play singles will be incredibly important — something Stosur alluded to in Wednesday's press conference.
"It’s always a tough decision, and this time around, it’s no different," she stated.
The highest-ranked chosen player must be the No.1, so that rules Birrell out of selection for No.2
Realistically, the choice will be between Joint and Tomljanović.
A win in the match-up against Putintseva would set Australia up for a potential victory.
Even if former Wimbledon champion Rybakina wins her singles rubber, the tie would come down to the doubles match.
Recent form
Putintseva started this year well with a semi-final appearance in Adelaide but has struggled recently, losing in the first-round of three of her last four tournaments.
She does hold a 5-1 record over Tomljanović, although the Aussie has found recent form with a semi-final last month in Austin and two wins in Charleston last week before falling to Jessica Pegula.
Joint, 18, has had a stellar start to the year. After just her second WTA match win in Brisbane in January, she followed that with a semi-final in Hobart the following week.
She also made the quarter-finals of Akron, defeating Donna Vekić en route. This has seen her rise to a career-high No.78 in the world from well outside the top-100 at the start of 2025.
Joint has yet to play Putintseva in any competition.
The doubles
Australia will be led by doubles world No.20 Ellen Perez. The 29-year-old has won eight doubles titles (including Abu Dhabi this year), made the final of the WTA Finals in 2023, and reached the semi-finals of the French Open and the US Open.
She will likely be joined by Storm Hunter, who has made a recent comeback after rupturing her Achilles in April last year.
Hunter had finished 2023 as the world's No.1 doubles player in a season that included a final appearance at Wimbledon.
She also helped Australia make the final of the Billie Jean King Cup in 2022 alongside Tomljanović and Team Captain Stosur.
Kazakhstan will be no pushover in the doubles, though.
Anna Danilina is ranked No.18, while Putintseva is at a career-high No.75 and is no slouch.
The last time Australia and Kazakhstan met
The two teams met in the group stage of the BJK Cup finals in 2023.
Hunter won her match against Danilina in the opening singles match, with Putintseva defeating Birrell in straight sets before Perez and Hunter teamed up to defeat Danilina and Putintseva 6-1 4-6 [10-5].
Australia will be hoping to repeat the result to place themselves in the box seat to qualify from the group.
The BJK Cup tie between Australia and Kazakhstan begins at 12:00pm on Thursday April 10. Coverage is available on 9Gem.
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