New Zealand 2-0 Up Against Malaysia After Davis Cup Day One

New Zealand has made a clean sweep of Malaysia on day one in its Davis Cup tie indoors at the Albany Tennis Park, North Harbour finishing with a 2-0 scoreline after two easy straight set wins.

 

The first round Asia/Oceania Group II clash always looked positive for New Zealand on paper with none of the Malaysians holding current ATP rankings, but the ease in which the home side started the day was perhaps a little staggering giving team captain, James Greenhalgh plenty to be pleased with.

 

“I’m very happy to be up 2-0. We got off to a good start with Rubin finding his rhythm. He showed a lot of maturity with his victory and then the momentum followed with Dan serving a high first serve percentage. The atmosphere in the team is pretty positive after day one. They have named their No1 Si in the doubles. It’s not going to be a completely unknown opponent,” said Greenahlgh.

 

Rubin Statham the Kiwi No1 wrapped up his match in 1 hour 20 minutes against the Malaysian No2, Razlan Rawi 6-1 6-1 6-0 to start the tie, not letting his opponent into any points during the match.

 

New Zealand No2 Dan King-Turner was second on court with success over the Malaysian No1 Yew Ming Si 6-4 6-1 6-4 in one hour 46 minutes. King-Turner was able to make use of his big serve, but was given a good run by his opponent who is the most experienced in the Malaysian team and has had at ATP ranking, albeit a not very high one.

 

“They are obviously not as strong as some of the other teams in the competition, but in Davis Cup you never really know what can happen. I though Rubin played well and I did as well,” said King-Turner.

 

Saturday’s doubles match which starts at 2pm will feature King-Turner and GD Jones aiming to close out the tie against Si and Adam Jaya.

 

King-Turner and Jones have formed a good combination together in Davis Cup and professional play winning three Futures titles as a team and being a finalist in another Futures tournament.

 

The winner of the tie will play either Indonesia or Kuwait in July with the hope the New Zealand side can work its way back up Asia/Oceania Group I alongside nations such as Australia, India, Japan and Thailand.

 

 

Results:

Rubin Statham(New Zealand) bt Razlan Rawi(Malaysia) 6-1 6- 1 6-0

Dan King-Turner(New Zealand) bt Yew Ming Si(Malaysia) 6-4 6-1 6-4