Doubles trouble as NZ lose to China

New Zealand have lost the Davis Cup tennis tie to China with, of all things, a loss in the doubles costing them dearly.

Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell were yesterday defeated in the doubles 6-4 6-4 by Gong Mao Xin and Zhang Ze, which was followed by Rubin Statham losing to Wu Yibing 1-6 6-3 6-4.

Having completed the first day of the tie in Tianjin at 1-1, this looked like being a tie within New Zealand’s grasp.

Thanks to having three world class doubles players, New Zealand hadn’t lost a doubles rubber since 2014, so a win was expected and then a win in just one of the two remaining singles rubbers would have secured the tie.

Great plan, but the straight-set doubles loss meant New Zealand were in a desperate position.

‘‘It’s one of those things,’’ New Zealand Davis Cup captain Alistair Hunt said of Sitak and Daniell’s defeat. ‘‘They didn’t really fire today and they’d had four years without losing a match.

‘‘Today wasn’t their day, it’s just tennis and it’s Davis Cup, the other guys played pretty well at some points.

‘‘When our guys were playing well, they got a bit lucky and it was one of those things where it looked like it wasn’t meant to be. We’ve got to look at it and carry on.’’

Down 2-1 in the tie, New Zealand needed Statham to pull off another of his memorable Davis Cup wins to stay alive.

China made a change for the

They didn’t really fire today and they’d had four years without losing a match. Alistair Hunt

match, bringing in Yibing, who was the No 1 junior in the world last year and pushed David Ferrer close at the ASB Classic last month.

Despite a great start by the New Zealander, the talented 18-year-old came through, getting the decisive break when Statham was serving at 4-4 in the third set.

‘‘Rubin played a great match today, it was good tennis and he gave his all out there,’’ Hunt said.

‘‘It was a tough ask and they were neck and neck until the last point of the match.

‘‘It was anyone’s match out there and I’m disappointed for him that he couldn’t across the line.

‘‘He played great yesterday and has had another fantastic match today.’’

The dead rubber between Michael Venus and Wu Di wasn’t played and with the tie over the players will go their separate ways, before coming together again later in the year for a Asia/Oceania group one relegation tie.

‘‘The boys have worked hard and everyone’s been here for each other and worked well,’’ Hunt reflected.

‘‘Obviously, we’re disappointed to lose, we thought we had a good chance here.’’