New Zealand's Davis Cup tennis team blew at least a chance of going the distance in their Asia-Oceania group one tie in Tianjin.
Rubin Statham won the opening two sets of the first reverse singles against Wu Di, who's ranked nearly 100 places higher than the New Zealander, but the home player won the match in five sets to give China an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.
New Zealand had only once before been beaten in six Davis Cup matches against China, and they were newly promoted to Group One after beating the Phillipines in September.
