Lulu Sun. Photo: photosport
New Zealand plans to manage the workload of key player Lulu Sun at this week's Billie Jean King Cup regional teams tournament in India.
The New Zealand side open their campaign on Tuesday night against the host nation in Pune before ties against Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Thailand.
The top two nations will qualify for the World Group play-offs in November, with South Korea and India expected to be among the strongest contenders.
The presence of world No.45 Sun - a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon - gives New Zealand a fighting chance, while much will also depend on the form of the second-ranked Kiwi Monique Barry - the world No.485.
Monique Barry. Photo: photosport
New Zealand's three other players - Aishi Das, Sasha Situe and Renee Zhang - are on debut but team captain Matt Hair said the trio were likely to get court time when the opportunity arose.
He indicated the youngsters could make up the doubles combination if New Zealand was either 2-0 up or 0-2 down in a tie following the singles matches involving Sun and Barry.
Hair was particularly conscious of not physically burning out 23-year-old Sun.
"She knows that she's going to be having to play quite a lot, and we'll have to manage that as the week goes on," Hair said of Sun.
"It's obviously hot conditions over here, but we're going to have to use her as much as we can, just in the situation that we are in, with the three younger girls."
Hair said the experience would be a positive one for Das, Situe and Zhang.
"Obviously those three being around Lulu, and also Monique who is on tour all year, it's going to be great for them," he said.
"The key is going to be how we manage those two throughout the week as well. But I'm sure with our younger girls, I'm expecting them to be able to step up, when they get the chance to get on court."
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