Tennis: Kiwis lead in Davis Cup tie

New Zealand took a 2-0 lead after day one in its Davis Cup tie against Malaysia, indoors at the Albany Tennis Park on the North Shore yesterday.

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 Kiwis won with impressive ease.

"I'm very happy to be up 2-0. We got off to a good start with Rubin [Statham] finding his rhythm. He showed a lot of maturity with his victory and then the momentum followed with Dan [King-Turner] serving a high first serve percentage. The atmosphere in the team is pretty positive after day one," said team captain James Greenhalgh.

Kiwi No1 Statham 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.

King-Turner was next on court with success over the Malaysian No1 Yew Ming Si, 6-4 6-1 6-4, in one hour 46 minutes.