Paes helps India to draw level on day one

For Leander Paes it was yet another memorable opening day in a Davis Cup tie as he put India on equal footing with New Zealand winning the second singles rubber after the visitors trailed 0-1 in a second round tie of the Asia-Oceania Group I match at the Renouf Tennis Centre in Wellington on Friday.

After Kiwi No.1 Mark Neilsen made the most of an error prone Harsh Mankad to win the opening singles match 6-4, 6-0, 6-1; Paes braved the cold and blistery conditions to beat Alistair Hunt in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Paes, clad from neck to toe, forced to two break points in the sixth game of the first set and Hunt promptly obliged with a wide forehand and the Indian went on to pocket the set.

But in the second set, the Kiwi improved his returns and came up with big serves trying to unsettle the seasoned Indian star. But Paes, who has three grand slam doubles titles under his belt, answered with some stunning returns and Hunt began to feel the heat.

In the seventh game, a brilliant forehand cross-court pass by Paes brought the game to deuce, and two double faults by Hunt gave Paes the crucial break.

The third set too witnessed a similar pattern, with Paes playing percentage tennis and winning the big points while Hunt wilted under pressure at crucial moments.

The scores were even till the eighth game but the inevitable followed in the next, when Hunt again served a pair of double faults to drop serve and soon Paes served out the match to put the tie scores at 1-1. The opening singles between Mankad and Neilsen was a mediocre affair except in the first set which saw both players trading breaks.

Mankad lost serve early in the match and trailed 1-3. He managed to break back in the next game only to lose it again in the sixth game to go 2-4 down.

After both players held serves, Mankad looked like coming back breaking the Kiwi, saving a set point in the process, to come close at 4-5.

But that was the end of the road for the young Indian, who was expected to put up a much better fight, as he lost the next ten games to go 4-6, 0-6, 0-2 down.

He broke Neilsen in the third game of the third set to escape further embarrassment but once again his serve ditched him and lost serves in the fourth and sixth games as Neilsen led 5-1 before finishing it off on his first match point.

The 396th ranked Neilsen's victory, who defeated Andreas Vinciguera in the Heineken Open at Auckland early this year, was made easier by Mankad who committed 37 unforced errors to Neilsen's 11.

The Indian's poor serving, winning just two games on serve, also stood out as he managed to win just 37 per cent of points on the first serve compared to Neilsen's 70.

In the doubles, Paes and Bhupathi will play their first match on Saturday after parting ways recently as India look to take a 2-1 lead into the final day on Sunday.

The past record is in favour of New Zealand who have beaten India in all the three earlier encounters, two of them on Indian soil.