AUCKLAND, Feb 9: James Shortall and Robbie Cheyne won their first matches in Davis Cup tennis as New Zealand completed a 5-0 sweep of Pakistan in their Asia-Oceania first round tie at the Waikato Tennis Center, Hamilton on Sunday.
Shortall and Cheyne were propelled into action in Sunday’s reverse singles after Alistair Hunt and Mark Nielsen had clinched the tie for New Zealand in Saturday’s doubles. Hunt and Nielsen had previously beaten Aisam Qureshi and Aqeel Khan in the opening singles.
Pakistan also pushed forward its less experienced players in Sunday’s dead rubbers. Shortall beat Asim Shafik 6-2, 6-2 and Cheyne beat Nomi Qamar 6-2, 6-0 in matches restricted to the best of three sets.
New Zealand will play the winner of the group match between India or Japan in its second round clash in April. India led Japan 2-1 after Saturday’s doubles.
Results:
New Zealand 5 Pakistan 0
Sunday’s singles
James Shortall beat Asim Shafik 6-2 6-2; Robert Cheyne beat Nomi Qamar 6-2 6-0
Saturday’s doubles Mark Nielsen/Alistair Hunt beat Aisam Qureshi/Aqeel Khan 6-3 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 7-5
Friday’s singles Mark Nielsen beat Aqeel Khan 6-0 6-1 6-2 Alistair Hunt beat Aisam Qureshi 6-4 1-6 7-5 6-2
Uzbekistan 3 Indonesia 2
Asia/Oceania zone group one
(Uzbekistan names first):
Sunday’s singles
Vadim Kutsenko beat Peter Handoyo 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-0; Oleg Ogorodov beat Febi Widhiyanto 1-6 7-5 7-5 6-0
Romania 1 France 4
World Group
(First round):
Nicolas Escude (Fra) bt Gabriel Trifu (Rom) 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4; Victor Hanescu (Rom) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 6-1, 6-4
Switzerland 2 The Netherlands 2
(Dutch names first):
Sunday’s singles
Sjeng Schalken lost to Roger Federer 6-7 4-6 5-7
Spain 5 Belgium 0
World Group
(Reverse singles, first round)
(Spanish names first):
Sunday’s singles:
Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Kristof Vliegen 6-1 6-4; Carlos Moya beat Christophe Rochus 6-2 6-2
Czech Republic 2 Russia 2
World Group
(Reverse singles, first round)
(Czech names first):
Sunday’s singles:
Jiri Novak beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7-5)
Sweden 2 Brazil 2
World Group
(Reverse singles, first round)
(Sweden names first):
Jonas Bjorkman beat Gustavo Kuerten 6-4 6-4 4-6 4-6 6-1
Belarus 3 beat Israel 2
Euro/African zone group
(Reverse singles)
(Belarus names first):
Sunday’s singles:
Alexander Shvec lost to Andy Ram 1-6 2-3 retired; Alexander Skrypko lost to Harel Levy 4-6 4-6
Austria 5 Norway 0
Euro/African zone group one
(Reverse singles)
(Norway names first):
Sunday’s singles:
Oliver Marach beat Fredrik Aarum 6-4 6-2; Konstantin Gruber beat Stian Boretti 6-3 7-5
Paraguay 5 Haiti 0
American zone group two
Reverse singles
(Paraguay names first):
Sunday’s singles
Gustavo Ramirez beat Joel Allen 6-0 6-2; Emilio Baez-Britez beat Jerry Joseph 6-0 6-1.—Reuters