Korea ousted from Davis Cup competition

When the forehand stroke of Baek Seung-Bok landed outside the baseline, sighs could be heard from the Korean bench, while the New Zealanders rushed onto the court, rejoicing in their victory.

Korea and New Zealand, both in Asia/Oceania Group I of the Davis Cup tournament, clashed in four singles and one doubles match at the 2nd Gym at Seoul Olympic Park on Sunday.

Tied with New Zealand at 2-2 going into the final singles match, Korea`s hopes were dashed when Baek lost a thrilling four-hour match to Alistair Hunt (2-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 4-6). The 2-3 setbacks meant that Korea failed to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Korea will meet the loser of the Indonesia-Uzbekistan match in the first-round consolation playoff.

In the previous singles match, Lee Hyung-Taik, ranked 80th in the world, made it 2-2 by stopping Mark Nielsen 3-0 (6-0, 6-1, 7-6) in just one hour and 34 minutes, proving that he deserves his world-class ranking.