Emirates Team New Zealand and Italian boat Luna Rossa won tough races to open the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals on Monday.
The Kiwis, who finished top of the round-robin standings, beat Desafio Espanol of Spain by 43 seconds, while Luna Rossa defeated US entry BMW Oracle Racing by 2:19.
"Windshifts were the name of the game today, that's for sure," BMW Oracle Racing navigator Peter Isler said. "We always thought we'd get one race with that tricky offshore breeze. We just hope that it was that race."
The two winners of the best-of-nine match racing series will meet in the June 1-11 Louis Vuitton Cup final to decide which boat will race defending champion Alinghi in the America's Cup from June 23-July 4.
Tacticians on both teams were tested from the start, with a steady wind shifting its course and a western breeze from inland for the first time in the series.
"On a day like today, if you do normal match racing style it can go well or not," Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael said. "When we have so many holes, puffs and shifts, it's important to sail the wind."
"It was a tough day to keep it close and defend," Kiwi strategist Ray Davies said. "We just had to keep the hammer on them and box them in a bit and it was difficult."
The Spanish team initially wanted the right side but made the decision to start left 90 seconds before the start.
"We're kind of kicking ourselves over that one right now," navigator Matt Wachowicz said.
Luna Rossa chose the right-hand side in its pre-start -- a move it earned for winning a coin toss after the round-robin sailing.
"We were hoping everything would go screwy and we'd need a restart," Isler said. "We needed a miracle at that point."
It was the Americans' second straight loss, after dropping the final flight of the round-robin.
Isler said BMW Oracle Racing owner Larry Ellison told the team to pace itself after a loss on the heels of a defeat in the final flight of the round-robin to the Kiwis.
"It's like Larry said when we got off the boat today, `it's a long series guys,'" Isler said.
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