Tennis: Kiwis take firm grip on tie

By Terry Maddaford

TIMARU - Alistair Hunt's big serve-and-volley game made the difference in a four-set, 3h 10m thriller in which he overpowered Thailand's No 1 Paradorn Srichaphan on the opening day of the Davis Cup tennis tie yesterday.

Hunt's win over a player ranked in the top 100 in the world and 660 places higher on the ATP list than him completed a 2-0 sweep after Mark Nielsen had brushed aside Danai Udomchoke in the opening rubber.

Needing just one win from the remaining matches to go through to the next round of the Asia-Oceania group, the New Zealanders should do that in a canter, with today's doubles match their first opportunity.

Well satisfied with his first day as non-playing captain, Glenn Wilson said he would wait until around midday today before confirming James Greenhalgh and James Shortall as his doubles pairing.

"We just want to check things out," Wilson said.

"We want to put the best team out there."

Hunt, in his 11th Davis Cup team since his debut in 1995, rated yesterday's win not too far behind his 1996 triumph over Dutchman Richard Krajicek.

"I was playing it point by point out there," said 27-year-old Hunt.

"It wasn't until I had 4-1 in the fourth that I looked at the scoreboard. Funnily, I went out there today feeling I was going to play four sets."

With the crowd, which started at close to capacity but dwindled once the "rent-a-crowd" departed, firmly behind him, Hunt broke the Thai's first serve but gave that advantage back in the sixth game.

Hunt had set-point at 6-5 in the seemingly inevitable tiebreaker but blew that before eventually taking it 8-6 as Srichapan hurried an easy overhead shot into the net.

The second set provided more of the same, with Hunt this time broken in the first game and the Thai in the eighth.

Both players had set-point in the tiebreaker before Hunt took it when his opponent was wide with what should have been an easy volley.

While the first two sets took close to two hours, the Thai bounced back in the third to take it 6-3 in just 35 minutes.

With Hunt appearing to flag slightly in the heat and with the swirling wind causing service problems, Srichaphan was poised to get back in the fourth set.

But not for long.

Hunt broke in the fourth game for 3-1 and again in a drawn out sixth game before serving it out for 6-1.

Srichaphan later admitted that Hunt's big serve had been the difference.

"I knew it would be tough to come back after going 0-2 down," he said. "I have not played many serve-and-volley players like that."

Nielsen needed just 1h 19m to sweep Udomchoke aside 6-1 6-1 6-3 without dropping a service game.

There was no surprise when he held his serve to love to finish it off.

"I didn't expect it to be so easy," Nielsen admitted. "I was just thinking about winning and getting it to 1-0 and take some pressure off Alistair."

He need not have worried about that.