Romanian Horia Tecau is starting to feel like an honorary Kiwi and could secure a spot in local tennis history with victory in today's Panasonic Doubles.
His partner - young local hope Marcus Daniell - has emerged from virtual obscurity to become the first New Zealand player in an ATP Tour final since James Greenhalgh won a doubles title at Hong Kong in 1999.
They achieved this distinction with another thrilling super-tiebreak victory over Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherland Antilles, 3-6 7-6(4) 10-8. Daniell (20) had three double faults to lose the critical service game in the opening set, but he and Tecau staged a recovery as remarkable as the one that carried them past Spaniards Robredo and Granollers in the previous round.
They achieved a minibreak to go 4-3 in the second-set tiebreak and held on to even up the match. Then, in the super tiebreak, Daniel again faltered on serve early, but Tecau got them back in the race with a superb crosscourt off Rojer's serve.
Matchpoint came off Brunstom's serve and Daniell had the satisfaction of smashing home the matchwinner.
"It feels great," admitted Tecau. "It feels like I am playing at home here ... I get to play on centre court and the crowd is behind us the whole time."
Tecau and Daniell hooked up when the Romanian couldn't get into the main draw with regular partner Andre Sa of Brazil and begged tournament director Richard Palmer for a wild card. His combination with the local rookie was a condition of that entry.
"We have been doing some doubles practice ... stuff that Marcus probably doesn't work on especially, because he has a singles career ahead of him," said the 24-year-old Romanian, with an ATP doubles ranking of 46th.
"The rest is to stay positive and to fight. I have played many matches like this. I know how he feels and what he needs to hear at this point."
Ahead lies experienced Brazilian duo Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, who dazzled the crowd with their skills in the semifinals. Tecau lost two tournament finals last year, one of those to Melo and Sa.
"Hopefully, there will be a little revenge tomorrow."
