NZ Davis Cup team needing big comeback
The New Zealand Davis Cup team are in a tough position after day one of their World Group tie against Japan at the Trusts Stadium in West Auckland.
Japan won both singles matches to be ahead 2-0 going into the second and final day featuring doubles and potentiall reverse singles.
LATEST HEADLINES:
New Zealand No 1 Anton Shepp at 500 in the world lost to Rei Sakamot who has a current ATP ranking of 135 and recently reached the second round at the US Open.
Shepp keep tabs with his opponent 5-7, 4-6 in one hour 26 minutes as the Japanese player broke the New Zealand on three occasions. Shepp managed one break but couldn't finish off the key points when needed.
In the second match James Watt who is primarly a doubles player took on top-100 ranked Sho Shimabukuro and started with a bang winning the first set 6-3 with some big serves.
However the second set had the Japanese player break Watt in the second game as his big match experience started to take hold.
In the third set Shimabukuro broke Watt in the third game to go ahead 2-1 and never relenquish the lead playing out the match for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in one hour 40 minutes.
The doubles is set to feature Finn Reynolds and Ajeet Rai as the New Zealand combination.
