New Zealand have advanced to the next round of tennis’ Davis Cup with a remarkable victory in their tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Whangārei.
The New Zealanders were staring defeat in the face after Anton Shepp and James Watt lost their openingsingles matches on Saturday.
But they were revived by an inspiring effort from Ajeet Rai and Finn Reynolds in the doubles yesterday. They played assured tennis to shut out Tomislav Brkic and Vladan Tadic 6-2, 6-1.
The Kiwis still needed to win both reverse singles, but Watt and Shepp lifted their efforts in dramatic fashion.
Then Shepp kept the Whangārei crowd cheering by taking the first set off Mirza Basic, 6-2. Shepp was up 5-2 in the second set but the 34-year-old Basic broke Shepp’s serve and then got back to 5-4 and had Shepp in trouble on his serve again at 15-40 before Shepp fought back.
He thumped successive aces to take the match and the tie and give New Zealand coach Artem Sitak one huge 40th birthday present.
The team rushed to embrace the 23-year-old Shepp, who told the crowd he was very proud of his teammates.
Anton Shepp’s tie-winning moment against Mirza Bašic. Photo / Michael Bradley
Left to right: Artem Sitak (captain), Clint Packer (coach), Cody Atkinson, James Watt, Anton Shepp, Issac Becroft, Finn Reynolds, Brayden Visser (physio), Ajeet Rai celebrate the Davis Cup win. Photo / Michael Bradley
“We had a big task today [Sunday] coming back from two-zero. Credit to all the lads, we put on a really big performance,” he said on the Sky Sport broadcast.
“Honoured to be here. This is my debut so thank you very much for making me feel so welcome.”
New Zealand now progresses to the second round, which will be held after the US Open in September. The draw has not been done yet, so they don’t know yet who their opponents will be.
The next round will be in September, with the draw yet to be made.
If they win their second-round match, they make the final eight teams, plus the wildcard of Italy.
