By DAVE WORSLEY and NZPA
New Zealand Davis Cup debutant Simon Rea overcame major doubts before outclassing Indian No 1 Harsh Mankad in Invercargill yesterday.
Rea beat Mankad 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) to open his cup career in great style and give New Zealand the perfect start to their Asia/Oceania zone one tie.
Indian veteran Leander Paes continued his courageous return from a life-threatening brain lesion six months ago to lock the tie at 1-1 when he easily beat New Zealand No 1 Mark Nielsen 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in the second singles.
The doubles will be played today and Rea hopes to get back on court with Nielsen, especially now that he has overcome the doubts and nerves which struck with him in the build-up to the tie.
Rea was concerned with how he would recover from a long, taxing flight from the US after arriving in Invercargill late on Tuesday.
He also had to adapt to a fast indoor court, having been playing on slow courts on the American college scene.
"So to come down here and play was a big change," Rea said.
"I certainly had my doubts. I wasn't even sure I would be playing."
Rea started to feel good only yesterday afternoon, when the jetlag affects had properly worn off. Suddenly he felt ready.
"I just felt sharper. I sort of clicked with the court and everything."
Mankad may have a much higher world ranking of 330 compared to Rea's 818, but that means little because the New Zealander is not a fulltime professional.
The left-hander, 21, is at the University of Tennessee on a tennis scholarship.
He was simply too strong all-round for the highest-ranked Indian player, who is the No 1 for this tie by name only because he is clearly his team's second-best player on ability behind Paes.
Rea's serve was a major weapon, having more bite and power than Mankad's.
His volleying was accurate and his ground-strokes, particularly a cracking backhand, would have surprised the Indian camp.
"Under the circumstances, it's right up there in my career," Rea said of his victory.
"I've probably played better tennis, in terms of ball striking. But this is Davis Cup, with the pressure atmosphere. I really felt that pressure at the start and at the end. To come out and play like I did, I'm really over the moon."
Rea held it together when it really mattered, closing out the first set by winning the final two games to love after he had blown a 3-0 lead.
He wrapped up the match with a near faultless third set tie-breaker, which he won 7-2, but only after duffing two match points while serving at 5-4.
Paes looked like he wanted to get off the court quickly and from the start hit every shot with power which had Nielsen on the back foot.
It is expected that Derlin may substitute Nielsen for newcomer Matt Prentice for the doubles against the former world No 1 pairing of Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi starting at 2pm.
Tennis: NZ and India all square after Davis Cup openers
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