KEY POINTS:
New Zealand No 1 Dan King-Turner produced a gutsy display before going down to second seed Juan Ignacio Chela in the opening round of the Heineken Open tennis tournament today.
King-Turner made light of his world ranking of 344th, compared with the Argentine's 20th, before succumbing 5-7 6-2 7-5.
A wildcard, King-Turner surprised his opponent by taking the first set with some impressive serving.
In all, he sent down nine aces to Chela's two during a contest lasting hours 26 minutes.
He twice served his way back from 0-40 down to stay in touch, before converting his only break point in the set's final game.
But Chela, a semifinalist in Auckland three years, upped the ante in the second to square the match.
King-Turner raised the hopes of hometown fans that he might pull off a stunning upset when he broke Chela to lead 3-1 in the deciding set, only to be broken back in the very next game.
Ironically, it was a double fault that effectively ended King-Turner's challenge as he dropped serve to go 5-6 down, allowing Chela to serve for the match.
- NZPA