An efficient performance by New Zealand tennis No.1 Rubin Statham sealed an overall win against China in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 tie in Auckland.
With scores set at two matches to one in favour of the home side after a dramatic doubles win by Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell the previous night it was Statham who came out firing in the first reverse singles and played top tennis to defeat his opponent Zhe Li 6-3 6-4 6-4 to give his side victory.
Statham was presented with an ITF achievement and outstanding contribution award the previous day so it was fitting that Statham was able to win the tie for his country. He found himself not up against the expected Ze Zhang the Chinese No.1 who had played ten massive sets of tennis but a player ranked still at a very acceptable 348 in the world in the form of Zhe Li.
However Li was probably a step behind Zhang, but also Statham was probably a step up from the rain delayed match on Friday evening. The 27-year-old Kiwi who is hoping to rebuild his ranking after an injury plagued year played with no fuss, but some solid shot making and point construction, although his celebration when he achieved the victory showed how much the win meant to him.
"It's an amazing feeling winning a tie for your country. It doesn't get much better than that. I've had a lot of ups and downs over the past decade of playing Davis Cup some good wins and some tough losses like in this tie on the first day, but it just makes the win here even sweeter," said Statham.
In the dead fifth match Kiwi team captain Alistair Hunt played Michael Venus who then defeated Chuhan Wang in three sets 3-6 7-6 6-4 to make the overall score 4-1 to New Zealand.
