New Zealand have a mountain to climb to stay alive in their Davis Cup tennis tie against Uzbekistan after losing both singles matches on the opening day in Tauranga.

Uzbekistan were on top from the start of the Asia/Oceania group one tie on Friday.

World No.58 Denis Istomin was the clear favourite against Rubin Statham, who is ranked 500 places lower, and he duly cruised to a 6-1 6-1 6-3 victory.

In the second rubber, New Zealand No.1 Michael Venus gave the home crowd something to cheer in taking the first set against Farrukh Dustov.

But Venus wasn’t consistent enough with his big serve and went down 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2.

The doubles on Saturday will pit Venus and Dan King-Turner against Dustov and Istomin, with the New Zealanders needing to win to keep the tie alive going into the reverse singles on Sunday.