Tennis-US host Hungary, France face Australia in BJK Cup playoffs

FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Billie Jean King Cup Finals - Final - Italy v United States - Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena, Shenzhen, China - September 21, 2025 General view as Italy's Jasmine Paolini, Lucia Bronzetti, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Tyra Grant, Sara Errani and captain Tathiana Garbin celebrate with the trophy after winning the final REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

April 23 (Reuters) - ⁠Record winners United States will host ⁠Hungary, while France will welcome ‌Australia in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs set for November, tournament organisers said ​on Thursday.

The playoffs, featuring seven ⁠promoted teams from ⁠the regional Group I events and ⁠seven ‌countries that lost in the 2026 qualifiers this month, ⁠will send the winners up to ​next year's ‌qualifiers.

The U.S., who have won ⁠the title ​18 times, failed to reach the finals after a shock loss to ⁠Belgium earlier this month, ​while seven-time champions Australia were defeated by Britain.

Brazil will host 2023 champions Canada, ⁠while Sweden will visit third seed Poland, with the matches scheduled to take place over two days between ​November 20 and ⁠22.

Fourth seed Japan will host Argentina ​as 2022 winners Switzerland ‌visit Thailand and Slovenia ​welcome Indonesia.

(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Toby Davis)