Statham and Tearney make it two wins from two for Kiwi men
Both Kiwis won through their first round matches in qualifying for the ASB Classic yesterday, making it a not often seen perfect day for New Zealand men’s tennis.
Rubin Statham played like a person with a point to prove in his first round qualifying match against Rhett Purcell.
The New Zealand No 1 beat Britain’s Purcell 7-6 6-0 on the Grandstand Court at ASB Tennis Arena in hot and blustery conditions. Later in the day Finn Tearney beat Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to put both players one win away from making the main draw.
Tournament director Karl Budge overlooked Statham for a main draw wildcard for the Classic and instead opted for doubles specialist Michael Venus, believing he had a better chance of winning a match.
Venus played singles in just two tournaments last year, outside the ASB Classic and Davis Cup, and has a world ranking of 1035. Statham is at 461 and will have to battle through qualifying to make it into the main draw.
He reached the halfway point in that journey by beating Purcell in a match with an unusual scoreline.
Purcell had a set point in the first set and played well by keeping the ball deep against Statham. But Statham managed to dig himself out of trouble and took the tiebreak 7-2. From that point Purcell’s play dropped and Statham breezed his way through the set.
In the final round of qualifying today, Statham will play Ryan Harrison from America.
There was just as good news for the other Kiwis in qualifying, with No 2 Tearney defeating Qureshi from Pakistan.
Qureshi, who is a doubles specialist, retired at the beginning of the first set, after winning the first 6-4, but losing the second 7-5.
It wasn’t the best tennis from Tearney over the last few months, but he showed spirit to keep fighting after losing a tight first set.
‘‘It was OK, I managed to battle through it, so I was pretty happy,’’ Tearney said.
‘‘I played much better last week in Noumea (in a Challenger tournament where he came through qualifying and made it to the second round), but it was a completely different type of tennis I was playing, he was coming in on me.
‘‘I didn’t play that well, I got through it and I’m happy.’’
Many people who follow New Zealand tennis would have expected Tearney to win the NZ Championships before Christmas and be given a main draw wildcard to the Classic, but he was blown away in the final by Artem Sitak, who won 6-2 6-0.
Meanwhile, the biggest name in the qualifying draw, Jerzy Janowicz from Poland, who was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2013, defeated Krisjanis Stabins from Latvia 6-4 6-4.