Tennis: King-Turner to start

Dan King-Turner. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Kiwi tennis No 2 Dan King-Turner will take the court first for the New Zealand Davis Cup team as they play India in their Asia/Oceania Group I relegation playoff in Chandigarh, India starting today.

In what is expected to be hot and humid conditions, King-Turner will play Indian No 1 and former world former world No 1 junior player Yuki Bhambri in the first match of the tie followed by Rubin Statham against Vishnu Vardhan.

With current ATP singles rankings of 317 for Statham and 382 for King-Turner they are just below their Indian opponents.

However, Statham has had a run of good results of late and King-Turner has beaten a number of top-200 ranked players.

Bhambri has an ATP singles ranking of 179 and Vardhan is ranked 260th.

But their Davis Cup experience is limited, something New Zealand non-playing captain Marcel Vos said could play to the Kiwi's advantage. Vos has selected Artem Sitak and Michael Venus for the doubles but said things could changed up to an hour before a match.

Schedule
Friday: Day One 4.30pm (NZT)
Dan King-Turner v Yuki Bhambri, followed by Rubin Statham v Vishnu Vardhan

Saturday: Day Two 6.30pm (NZT)
Doubles: Artem Sitak/Michael Venus v Vishnu Vardhan and Sanam Singh

Sunday: Day Three reverse singles 4.30pm (NZT)
Rubin Statham v Yuki Bhambri, followed by Dan King-Turner v Vishnu Vardhan.