Considering the home conditions and ranking advantage of their singles players, India will start favourites against New Zealand in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand at Pune’s Balewadi Sports Complex. Get live score and live updates of India vs New Zealand Davis Cup Day 1 here. Tie starts at 3 PM IST.
2:54 pm IST: Yuki Bhambri’s last Davis Cup outing was also against Czech Republic in World Group Playoffs in 2015 at New Delhi. He lost both his matches as India lost 1-3 to Czech Republic.
2:24 pm IST: India lost to 5-0 to Spain in the World Group Playoffs in New Delhi in September 2016
2:43 pm IST: Yuki Bhambri is the more experienced than Finn Tearney, having played 15 Davis Cup matches (rubbers). He has a win/loss record of 10-5.
2:35 pm IST: Not much crowd in the stadium as of now, maybe because of the early afternoon start on a weekday. More should be coming in as the match progresses
2:32 pm IST: In eight previous encounters, India have won five and New Zealand three. The ITF officials are getting things ready for the match. The ball boys are already lined up, waiting for match officials and the players.
India captain Anand Amritraj and Zeeshan Ali have a quick chat as players warm up before the first singles. Catch India vs New Zealand Davis Cup live score and updates here. (HT Photo)
2:30 pm IST: India and New Zealand get ready for action. This is the ninth encounter between India and New Zealand in Davis Cup. Follow live score and live updates here.
PREVIEW
Yuki Bhambri will start India’s campaign in their Davis Cup tie vs New Zealand. Bhambri, who plays New Zealand No. 1 player Finn Tearney, had missed the last two ties because of an injury.
India tennis team non-playing captain Anand Amritraj (extreme left) and players Leander Paes (2L), Ramkumar Ramanathan (C), Vishnu Vardhan and Yuki Bhambri (R) take part in the opening ceremony of the Davis Cup tie between India and New Zealand in Pune on February 2. Catch live tennis score and live updates of India vs New Zealand here. (AFP)
The Delhi youngster is ranked 368 in singles while Tearney is at 414. Bhambri had recently played in New Zealand and got the better of top local players, so the feeling in the Indian camp is that he should prevail with a lot left in the tank.
New Zealand players Jose Statham (R), Artem Sitak (L), Michael Venus (2L) and Finn Tearney (2R) take part in the opening ceremony of the Davis Cup tie between India and New Zealand in Pune on February 2. Get live coverage of India vs New Zealand Davis Cup tie here. (AFP)
In the second singles today, Ramkumar Ramanathan plays Jose Statham and enjoys a ranking advantage of 141 over his rival. But Statham is their most experienced player in Davis Cup and capable of causing an upset unless Ramkumar is at his best.
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Considering the home conditions and ranking advantage of their singles players, India should be leading 2-0 at the end of the day.
But in Davis Cup players usually punch above their weight and the Indians have to be careful. While India had a tumultuous buildup to the tie, New Zealand players went quietly about gearing up for the tie.
Source: HindustanTimes