New Zealand's Artem Sitak in action during day three of the Davis Cup tie between New Zealand and Chinese Taipei at Wilding Park in Christichurch. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand's Artem Sitak in action during day three of the Davis Cup tie between New Zealand and Chinese Taipei at Wilding Park in Christichurch. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand wrapped up their Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei 4-1 today after splitting the 'dead' reverse singles at Wilding Park in Christchurch.
The home team had already sealed the result thanks to a couple of straight-set wins on Friday in singles by Rubin Statham and then thedoubles, also in straight sets, by Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell yesterday.
Chinese Taipei claimed the first match of the reverse singles thanks to their No 1 Tsung-Hua Yang who beat Artem Sitak 6-3 5-7 6-2. However, Marcus Daniell then beat defeat Jui-Chen Hung 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.
"I'm pretty happy with the tie and of course the way the boys played. It was a great team effort in front of a great crowd too," New Zealand captain Alistair Hunt said.
We thought it would be a tough tie, but we put in a great team effort and can now look forward to China next year with a team which is improving all the time."
Sitak, Daniell and Statham will all now feature in a Challenger tournament in Melbourne this week while Venus will take some time to rest after a big season on tour.
This weekend's tie was the first time New Zealand had played Davis Cup tennis in Christchurch since 2003 and the first time at Wilding Park, albeit indoors, for the first time since 1999.
New Zealand will host China in the first round of Asia-Oceania group one for next year in March at a yet-to-be confirmed venue.
