Kiwi's must discover form against Uzbekistan

New Zealand Davis Cup captain Marcel Vos has named a predictable team for the tie against Uzbekistan but he'll need the team to play some of their best ever tennis to progress to the next round.

Michael Venus, Artem Sitak, Rubin Statham and Dan King-Turner are the foursome that will take on an Uzbekistan team in Tauranga on February 10-12 for the Asia/Oceania group one tie.

Spearhead of the Uzbek team is world No60 Denis Istomin, while Farrukh Dustov (274) is expected to be their other singles player on the first day and to then team up with Istomin for Saturday's doubles match.

The two other yet-to-be-named members of the Uzbekistan team won't see any action unless there are dead rubbers to be played on the last day of the tie.

The rankings of Istomin and Dustov dwarf the New Zealanders. Venus is at 378, Sitak 413, Statham 557, while King-Turner has no official ranking as he didn't play at all on the circuit last year because of injury, but he does have an injury protected ranking of 395.

If New Zealand win, they'll play India in April for the right to advance to the world group playoffs but a loss means they would play again in September against an unknown opponent and defeat in that tie would send the country back down into group two.

- © Fairfax NZ News