New Delhi, Feb 07: India took a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group one tennis tie against New Zealand as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi set up a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over the pair of Mark Neilsen and debutant Matt Prentice. The former world no. 1 doubles team showed they had lost none of their firepower and wrapped up the game in just over two hours at Invercargill, according to information received here.
The Indians were far too experienced and too quick for New Zealanders and even though the hosts competed well, it was never going to be enough.
The Kiwis made the visitors fight for every game, but a major concern for them would be the fact that they could not break their opponents' serve.
There was just one break of serve in the first set, with Prentice losing his serve in the seventh game for the Indians to go up 4-3, after he had won his first game on serve to love.
In the second set Prentice was broken in the first game of the set, and the remaining service games were all held with relative ease. In the third set, Prentice, who is studying at the University of Oklahama, served two aces to take the score to 6-5 before Paes held serve to force the tiebreak.
In the tiebreak New Zealand had a 4-3 lead but a missed volley by the 23-year-old Prentice let the Indians back in and they quickly closed out the match.
Yesterday, New Zealand's Simon Rea had defeated Harsh Mankad in the opening singles, while Paes beat Mark Nielsen to level the tie.
The reverse singles will be played tomorrow, with Mankad set to play Neilsen before Paes takes on Rea.
The winner of the tie will play either Japan or Indonesia in the second round in April.
Bureau Report