KEY POINTS:
New Zealand got off to a great start in the second round of Davis Cup against Kuwait in Meshref, Daniel King-Turnerand Rubin Statham both winning their singles rubbers to give NZ a 2-0 lead after day one.
In the first singles, New Zealand's number one King-Turner dominated his
match against Ahmad Rabeea Muhammad, winning in straight sets 6-4 6-2 6-2. Statham, whose ranking is over 100 spots lower then his opponent Mohammad Ghareeb, then outplayed the Kuwait number one, taking out the match 6-3 6-2 6-3.
Last night, GD Jones and King-Turner were scheduled to take the tie by beating Ghareeb and Mohammad-Khaliq Siddiq in the doubles.
In results from other regions, James Blake fought off two match points to beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 6-7 6-3 3-6 7-5 and lifted the US to a 2-0 lead over France in their Davis Cup quarter-final tie.
Blake fought off the match points in the three-hour, 48 minute marathon when Mathieu was serving at 5-4 in the fifth set.
The American then took advantage of his second match point opportunity in the 12th game on a netted forehand to give the hosts a comfortable lead heading into the doubles.
Earlier in the day, Andy Roddick gave the US a 1-0 lead in a close 6-4 7-6 7-6 victory over Michael Llodra.
Marat Safin clawed back from two sets down to beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-7 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 and hand Russia a 1-0 lead in their quarter-final tie.
Former world number one Safin has struggled all season and is now ranked 87th in the world but he found his rhythm in the nick of time to wear down Berdych in just under four hours to whoops and cheers from the partisan crowd.
Safin's powerful serves and forehands forced world number nine Berdych onto the defensive during the final three sets of a scrappy encounter in which both players made dozens of unforced errors.
Igor Andreev will be aiming to extend Russia's lead when he takes on the Czech Republic's Radek Stapenek in the second singles rubber. Russian number one Nikolay Davydenko was not picked for the opening singles as he flew in late to Moscow following his victory in Miami last weekend.
Chris Guccione savoured one of his finest wins after staging a comeback to give Australia the early advantage against Thailand in the Oceania Davis Cup playoff.
World No 67 Guccione fought off three successive match points in a tense fourth-set tiebreaker before finally outlasting the 204th-ranked Danai Udomchoke 6-7 7-6 4-6 7-6 7-5 in a match stretching three hours and 39 minutes. Earlier Lleyton Hewitt hammered Kirati Siributwong 6-0 6-0 6-1 as Australia opened up a 2-0 lead and they took an unbeatable 3-0 lead when Hewitt and Paul Hanley won the doubles.
Meanwhile New Zealand's Leanne Baker reached the singles quarter-finals of the US$10,000 ($NZ12,667) Los Mochis in Mexico after beating Lucia Jara-Lozano (Arg) 6-4 6-3 in the second round. The fifth-seeded Baker will face six seed Valeria Pulido-Velasco (Mex) in the quarterfinal match up.
Baker and American partner Alexis Prousis are also through to the doubles semifinals after beating Angelica Chavez (Mex)/Yasmin Enrich (Arg) 6-1 6-3.