New Zealand has been beaten 4-1 by India in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 round one Davis Cup tie in Pune overnight with the home team winning both of the reverse singles.
Finn Tearney was first on court against Ramkumar Ramanathan and was in the match in the first set but found his rival too tough in the second and third sets. Ramanathan winning the match 7-5 6-1 6-0 with a large number of aces giving him plenty of free points, while Tearney struggled with his own serve later in the match.
"Finn had a couple of break points early on, but didn't capitalise on them. He had a good start in his match and couldn't get it over the line. Today was disappointing for us and for Finn. It's difficult for him at the moment. He'll learn from the match and hopefully take that forward. It definitely would have helped if he'd got a break and being able to hold on. He just wasn't that comfortable out there. Going forward these type of Davis Cup matches are very valuable for learning for him," said New Zealand captain Alistair Hunt.
In the dead fifth match Rubin Statham was defeated by Yuki Bhambri 5-7 6-3 4-6
"He (Rubin) definitely played a lot better today. He's working on things and trying to be aggressive out there. It was and a big improvement for him from Friday and it would have been interesting if it had been a live match with the crowd putting pressure on the home player."
Things don't get any easier for New Zealand as the next Davis Cup tie is against South Korea in New Zealand, April 7-9. The Korean team were beaten by Uzbekistan 4-1 but features world No.73 Hyeon Chung as its top player.
