New Zealand lost to Finland 5-0 in the Davis Cup
Tennis NZ
Michael Venus will return to New Zealand in the Davis Cup world group one series match in Helsinki against Finland.
Finland beat New Zealand 5-0 in the Davis Cup world group 1 match in Helsinki.
Michael Venus and Artem Sitak lost to Emil Ruusuvuori and Harri Heliovaara in an hour and 44 minutes with a score of 7-5 3-6 6-3 in the singles rubber to keep the tie alive.
It gave Finland the winning point, and with Ajeet Rai out with a slight hip problem, captain Kelly Evernden decided to give youngster Isaac Becroft (ranked 1016) a match in the first reverse singles of the dead rubber against world No. 51 Rusuvuort.
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Becroft, 21, was unfazed by an opponent ranked nearly 1,000 places ahead of him but went down 6-2 6-1 in 53 minutes.
Kiranpal Pannu was left trying to salvage something for New Zealand in the final rubber against Eero Vasa, but the Finn again proved too strong, winning 6-2 6-3 in 61 minutes.
The chastening result leaves New Zealand in a precarious position as they look to avoid relegation to World Group 2.
Evernden gave a refreshingly honest assessment of his team’s efforts in the Finnish capital, saying they were nowhere near the level they needed to be to compete against the elite nations.
“It was a great learning experience for the boys. None of our team can beat Ruusuvuori and we got to see him in action a bit. So it was a valuable thing for us.” he said.
“I think the reality of what our guys have to do, seeing a guy that’s ranked in the top 50 in the world, firsthand and up close and personal, they realize that no matter what they think about their ranking, 500 or 600 in the world, it’s not nowhere near the level they see.
“She is [Ruusuvuori] scary dude right now and they’re out there playing the best point they can play and they’re not making any progress and it’s over and over and over.”
Evernden felt that Rai and Becroft could take a lot away from the experience of playing at the caliber of Roosuvuori as they continue their respective careers.
“Rusuvuori’s ball hitting was so overwhelming for whoever we had, I think I wanted them to see, stand on the other side of the court and get completely caught off guard by a guy who plays top 10, top. 15 guys on a regular basis in his career, and I think it was an eye-opening experience for them … they got a little bit like, oh, jeez, wow, you know, it doesn’t stop,” Evernden said.
“And I and that’s the problem with playing low and playing in the 700s, everybody makes mistakes on simple balls, everybody misses the shots they should. It doesn’t happen at the top level.
“If you give someone a chance to win a point, they put the ball in the right spot, they win the point and you can’t make any mistakes and that was really valuable to the kids. to see it.”
Finland will advance to the Davis Cup qualifiers next March, while New Zealand will play in the WC group 1 playoffs.