New Zealand win doubles to open day two against Luxembourg

New Zealand have kept alive the Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg in Palmerston North.

In the opening match on Sunday, Ajeet Rai and Finn Reynolds defeated Rafael Calzi and Gilles Kremer 6-3 6-2 in 56 minutes.

The result means the tie is 2-1 to Luxembourg with two singles matches to come at Fly Palmy Arena.

New Zealand captain Artem Sitak decided to make a change to his doubles line-up, bringing in Ajeet Rai to play alongside doubles specialist Finn Reynolds.

But Luxembourg captain Gilles Muller also altered his initial doubles selection and went with Rafael Calzi and Gilles Kremer, wanting to keep Chris Rodesch and Alex Knaff fresh for the singles.

Against players with significantly lower rankings, Rai and Reynolds looked confident right from the beginning of this match and even though there was only one break of serve in the opening set, on Kremer’s serve, it always seemed likely that the first set would go their way.

Kremer served two double faults in the opening game of the second set, the latter being on break point and then Reynolds was able to consolidate that lead with his serve in the next game.

Calzi also double-faulted on break point soon after and Rai wrapped the match up with a huge serve on match point that Kremer couldn’t return.

It was high-quality doubles from Reynolds and Rai and they quickly had the crowd behind them, willing them on and enjoying seeing a New Zealand victory.