Doubles delight leaves NZ in lead
PHOTOSPORT ADVANTAGE New Zealand. Doubles specialists Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak soaked up the pressure and expectation that goes with their growing status in the two-man game by delivering the victory their country needed on day two of the Davis Cup tennis tie against Korea in Auckland.
It wasn’t easy, with Daniell and Sitak, both ranked inside the world’s top 60 as doubles players, having to work their way out of a tight spot to secure a 6-2 4-6 6-4 7-6 (4) victory over Korea’s Chung Hong and Lee Jea Moon to take the Kiwis into a 2-1 lead in the Asia/Oceania group one tie at the ASB Tennis Arena yesterday.
The New Zealanders were down a break in the fourth set, with the Korean pair serving at 5-4 to take the match into a fifth. But Daniell and Sitak, who had been a little short of their best hitherto, found their rhythm beautifully when it was needed, breaking back in the 10th game, spurning a couple of match points in the 12th and then executing with precision in the tiebreak to take it out 7-4.
‘‘We were really happy the way we closed it out,’’ Daniell said after a match that lasted two hours and 46 minutes.
‘‘We weren’t feeling the most natural out there, and didn’t have the easy flow that Artem and I can sometimes have.
‘‘But from 5-4 and a break down in the fourth to come back and get match points at 6-5, and win the breaker relatively convincingly, we’re really happy how we responded to the pressure situations. I think we’re on a bit of a winning streak in Davis Cup so long may it continue.’’
Daniell is right. The Kiwis have now won eight doubles matches on the bounce in a Cup run stretching back to their last loss to the Philippines in 2013. Sitak and Daniell haven’t been the combination in all of those ties, but they’ve had their fair share of wins.
They and Michael Venus (back in singles mode for this tie) pretty much eat, sleep and breathe the game of doubles these days on the ATP tour. And that proficiency also brings pressure in this competition,
‘‘Going into every Davis Cup tie we know we’re the favourites when playing doubles,’’ Sitak said afterwards. ‘‘The last tie in India they had [Leander] Paes on the team and we were still favourites. Going into ties knowing we’re going to win the doubles, it’s a great feeling.’’