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The eyes of the tennis world will fall on China this month when the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals take place in Shenzhen.
Defending champions Italy and the host nation are among eight teams looking to emerge victorious on September 21 after six days of action at the ‘World Cup of women's tennis’.
So what path will the eventual winners have to take to lift the trophy? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Finals starting this week.
MORE: Latest tennis news | What is the Billie Jean King Cup? History and all-time winners | Who are the teams competing at the 2025 BJK Cup Finals? |
Billie Jean King Cup Finals 2025 format
A record 146 teams entered to compete in the 2025 BJK Cup, with eight nations making it through to the Finals — reduced from 12 teams last year.
Italy (holders) and China (hosts) gained automatic entry with Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Spain, Ukraine and USA all progressing from qualifying as group winners.
With less teams involved this year, the Finals will begin at the quarter-final stage rather than having a first round, as was the case in 2024, but it will remain a straight knockout competition.
The first match of the Finals will see Italy take on China on Tuesday, September 16, with the other tie in the top half of the draw, Spain against Ukraine, taking place the following day.
The other two quarterfinal ties will both be played on Thursday, September 18, when Kazakhstan face USA and Great Britain meet Japan.
The winners of the first two quarterfinals will meet in the opening semifinal on Friday, September 19, with the second semi taking place on the Saturday. The final will be held on Sunday, September 21.
All ties will generally comprise three matches — two singles (the lower-ranked ‘number two’ players in each team facing the other first up followed by the ‘number one’ players) and then one doubles rubber — and will be played as best-of-three tie-break sets.
Irrespective of whether a team holds an unassailable 2-0 lead after the singles matches, the doubles match must still take place at the quarterfinal and semifinal stages, unless both nations and the referee agree otherwise.
In the final, the doubles match will not be played if the second singles match is decisive.
What time are BJK Cup Finals matches?
All ties throughout the tournament are scheduled to start at 5pm local time in China (5 a.m. ET, 10 a.m. BST) aside from the Kazakhstan-USA quarterfinal, which will begin at 10 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET, 3 a.m. BST).
The seven play-off group winners will advance to the 2026 BJK Cup qualifiers, while the remaining teams will compete in Regional Group I.
2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals schedule
Below is a look at this year's tournament schedule, which takes place from September 16-21.
Date | Time (local China) | Round | Tie |
Sep. 16 | 5:00 p.m. | Quarterfinal 1 | Italy vs. China |
Sep. 17 | 5:00 p.m. | Quarterfinal 2 | Spain vs. Ukraine |
Sep. 18 | 10:00 a.m. | Quarterfinal 3 | Kazakhstan vs. USA |
Sep. 18 | NB 5:00 p.m. | Quarterfinal 4 | Great Britain vs. Japan |
Sep. 19 | 5:00 p.m. | Semifinal 1 | Winner of QF 1 vs. Winner of QF 2 |
Sep. 20 | 5:00 p.m. | Semifinal 2 | Winner of QF 3 vs. Winner of QF 4 |
Sep. 21 | 5:00 p.m. | Final | Winner of SF 1 vs. Winner of SF 2 |
Billie Jean King Cup 2026 schedule
The BJK Cup play-offs for 2026 are scheduled to take place from November 14-16 and will see 21 nations make up seven groups of three and competing in a round-robin format.
The teams involved include the 12 nations who finished second or third in the 2025 qualifying groups — among them former BJK Cup champions Australia, Czechia and Germany — and nine teams promoted from Regional Group I.
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