New Zealand made a timid start to their Davis Cup tie against India in Calcutta last night when Mark Nielsen succumbed in straight sets to Leander Paes.
The New Zealand No 1 went down 1-6, 6-7 (1-7), 2-6 to the experienced Indian.
The second match in the Asia-Oceania zone group one tiebetween Alistair Hunt and Rohan Bopanna was washed out and will be played today before the doubles.
The opening rubber began ominously for the New Zealanders when Paes took a mere 24 minutes to win the first set. He twice broke Nielsen's serve to gain the early ascendancy before Nielsen worked his way into the match in the second set.
He began finding his range and held his serve throughout to force the set into a tie break, which Paes dominated throughout to prevail 7-1.
The third set was all one way traffic as Nielsen's serve fell away and his volleys were poor.
"I'm disappointed, not so much in the result, but in the way Mark played," non-playing captain Glenn Wilson said. "He was more worried about whether he would last the distance [in 30C heat] than the job at hand. He should have applied himself better in that first set."
