Wellington, Feb 3 NZPA - The New Zealand women's tennis team face a difficult draw in the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania group one competition starting in Kuala Lumpur today.

Third seeds New Zealand have drawn top seeds Japan and unseeded nations Indonesia and Korea in pool A, while second seeds Uzbekistan, fourth seeds Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and Thailand are in pool B.

Sacha Jones, ranked 160th in the world, heads the New Zealand team and is joined by Marina Erakovic (227) and Ellen Barry (816).

They play Korea today, Japan tomorrow and Indonesia on Friday in the round robin play.

The top teams in each pool play off on Saturday for a place in the world group two playoffs in April.