Tennis: First-round exit for NZ top seed

Only two New Zealanders have made it through to the second round of the US$10,000 men's Futures event at the North Harbour Tennis Park.

Top seed and New Zealand No 1 Dan Willman was eliminated in the first round by Bernhard Parun in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Willman took the first set after some hard hitting, but then started to suffer from back pain as a result of a car accident in France a week ago.

Willman had a chance in the second to equalise at 5-5, but dropped his serve and the set after being ahead 40-love.

The third set saw Willman get medical treatment on his back at 0-3. But there was little chance of the North Harbour player fighting his way back into the tournament as Parun capitalised on his opponent's misfortune and moved Willman around the court.

"I was trying to move him around more. I know how he plays and have seen him before.

"He is always playing fast, but today I could see he was having problems," Parun said.

Parun, 22, is trying to return to his career-high singles ranking of 390 achieved last year, and says that life on the circuit can be difficult.

"Sometimes it's not that easy. But I like playing in New Zealand.

It's way easier," he said, reflecting on the New Zealand connections in his life. His uncle Onny was New Zealand's most dedicated Davis Cup player and his father, Tony, was a former Davis Cup squad member who has given up coaching tennis in Germany to start up a "brezel" baking company in Petone.

Willman's match was delayed because the previous game lasted more than three hours.

New Zealand No 2 Mark Nielsen made short work of his opponent, qualifier Cris James, winning in just under an hour 6-3, 6-0.

Nielsen will now take on Davis Cup team-mate James Shortall in the first match today for a place in the quarter-finals.

Shortall had to overcome a determined effort from 19-year-old Aucklander Nick Lane to win in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

It was the second week in a row that Lane has missed gaining his first ATP singles point after being beaten in three sets.

Shortall has reached the second round in each of his previous six tournaments, but on each occasion he has failed to make the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Davis Cup player Alistair Hunt, 29, looked short of match fitness and would probably have been better off playing in the qualifying where he would have had the chance of more matches as he went down to Finn Lauri Kiiski in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6.

Hunt showed that even without match play he can still serve well at vital points and pushed his opponent to come up with winning shots.

The finals are on Saturday.