Tennis: Kiwis take top form into relegation fight

Marcus Daniell has improved his doubles ranking 300 places. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand team comes into next week's Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei in a strong position.

The glory days of the 1970s and 1980s are long gone but three of the four members of the New Zealand squad are enjoying career-best seasons.

The tie,which is an Asia- Oceania Group I relegation battle, will be played in Christchurch, the spiritual home of Davis Cup in this country.

"Things are coming together nicely," captain Alistair Hunt said. "These guys are playing some of the best tennis of their careers. Michael [Venus] has played in all four grand slams, Artem [Sitak] has got some consistent doubles results and was at the US Open and Marcus Daniell has had some handy results in singles and doubles. They have to do their apprenticeship out there and they are getting through that now."

Venus is the top ranked of the New Zealanders, coming in at 57 in doubles and 356 in singles. He made the doubles third round at the Australian and US Opens and came through qualifying to reach the semifinals of the Guangzhou Challenger event in singles.

Daniell has improved his doubles ranking (133) by almost 300 places since the start of the year and claimed the first top- 100 scalp of his career in singles at a Challenger event in Mexico when he beat Alex Bogomolov jnr (ranked 94).

Alongside Sitak, he reached the doubles finals of two Challengers, winning one. "It definitely boosts you when you see the others doing well," Daniell said. "It's like they are breaking the mould."

Sitak won the first ATP doubles title by a New Zealander since 2010 (in Stuttgart), made the second round of the US Open and is ranked 64 in doubles.

"When you get a run of results, you are a lot calmer," Sitak said. "It helps when you are getting decent pay cheques and can be self-sufficient. That's a great feeling."

Rubin Statham has battled injuries this year but is on the comeback trail.