New Zealand looked down for the count after the first day of their World Group II play-off tie against Luxembourg in Palmerston North when Kiranpal Pannu and Ajeet Rai lost their singles matches, but major changes to the original lineups saw both of Luxembourg’s winning singles players, Alex Knaff and Chris Rodesch, rested from their scheduled doubles rubber. They were replaced by Raphael Calzi and veteran Gilles Kremer, while Rubin Statham stepped down from the New Zealand pair so that Rai could play with Finn Reynolds.
It was no real surprise, given their respective rankings, that the New Zealand pair had a comfortable win, but what was a surprise was New Zealand team captain Artem Sitak nominating Jack Loutit to play his first match for New Zealand when he took on Rodesch in the first of the reverse singles rubbers. In a debut to remember, the youngster justified Sitak’s confidence by winning in straight sets, leaving the result of the tie hanging in the balance.
While Knaff stayed on board for Luxembourg, Statham replaced Rai on the New Zealand side of the net in a match where it was announced that this would be the veteran’s last time representing his country. The record-holder for most ties played (35), most singles matches played (50) and most singles wins (29) had also been the youngest player ever to represent New Zealand. That came when he played his first match against Kazakhstan in March 2005, a few weeks before his 18th birthday – and when Loutit was just eight months old. Sadly, there would be no fairytale farewell, with Knaff winning comfortably in straight sets to give Luxembourg a 3-2 win, and passage through to World Group I action next March.