Team New Zealand are only two wins away from challenging Alinghi for the America's Cup after routing Luna Rossa in the third leg of the Louis Vuitton Cup final on Sunday.

The Italians crossed the start line four seconds up on NZL 92 but Dean Barker's boat quickly cancelled out that deficit to surge clear for a majestic 1 minute 38 second win and a 3-0 lead in the best of nine series final.

The dual America's Cup winners could wrap up the final by as early as Wednesday - Monday is a rest day - unless Luna Rossa can devise a way to stem the Kiwi tide.

"I never thought we would be 3-0 up, we were expecting to lose a couple of races by now," said Kiwi strategist Ray Davies. "The boat was going really well today, we're happpy with its speed but we can't relax yet - we've still got two races to win.

"And these guys (Luna Rossa) are more than capable of taking races off us. They're a fantastic team, awesome sailors, and if any team can turn it around it's these guys."

Reflecting on the start Davies said: "Luna Rossa did a great job in controlling us but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The breeze went our way and it was difficult for Luna Rossa to come back at us."

Luna Rossa's Australian afterguard, Ben Durham, had a simple solution to crack the Kiwis.

"It's simple, we've got to start sailing better," he said. "I don't think we've sailed as well as we can so far. Now we're looking forward to getting a chance to sail better. Our crew work is good, I'm very proud of them, but over the last three days the New Zealanders have done a better job of getting off the line and getting up to speed - that's an area we can do better in."

As on Friday and Saturday, the Kiwis led around every turn, their boat proving far speedier in the calm waters to post deltas of 40, 55 and 55 secs around marks one, two and three.

And barring a major reversal of fortune they are now firmly in the driving seat to win and try to gain revenge on Alinghi who inflicted a 5-0 drubbing on Barker and his men in Auckland in 2003.

Given their predicament, Luna Rossa's crew will perhaps be thankful of Monday's day off which will give them a chance to sit down and work out a way to get back into the competition.

The Italians's mid-bow, Max Serena, asked what Luna Rossa could do to turn things around, replied: "We'll have a meeting later to decide what's the best thing to do. We're in the final, we know it's hard but we still have five races to win."

Luna Rossa's failure to trouble the New Zealanders has come as a surprise given their near total domination of pre-competition favourites BMW Oracle in the semi-finals.

In that 5-1 drubbing helmsman James Spithill's mastery of the pre-start game of chess proved pivotal but whilst still strong the Australian has failed to inflict similar damage on Barker.

And although the margin of defeat in Friday's first race was a mere eight seconds the manner in which New Zealand has lifted races two (40sec) and three will be a major cause for concern around the Prada-backed team's dinner table on Sunday night.

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