The rhetoric of the preliminaries, always respectful, often cagey, promised a very different type of match-racing from the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. The unknown factor was whether Torben Grael, the enigmatic Brazilian navigator on board the Italian boat Luna Rossa, and skipper Francesco de Angelis would adopt the same freewheeling tactics they had used so successfully to undermine the confidence of BMW-Oracle.

In the opening match against BMW-Oracle, Grael, the five times Olympic medallist, set the tone for the series by taking three massive gambles in anticipating the ever-shifting wind patterns of the western Mediterranean. Two of them paid off handsomely, one cost him and the crew of Luna Rossa nearly a minute’s lead. But the tactics were brilliantly conceived and almost flawlessly executed by a multi-national crew now sailing to a remarkable level of consistency.

The New Zealanders, the masters of conservatism, were never going to be drawn into the same trap nor duped into matching the gambler in Torben Grael. “We’re concentrating on one beat, one leg, one race at a time,” said Terry Hutchinson, their American tactician, who sailed with Dennis Conner in 2002. “We’ve got to capitalise on the mistakes they might make and keep the race close if we’re behind at the first mark. Luna Rossa have been underestimated. We’re not going to make that mistake.”

The tone throughout the Bolero length climax to this 32nd America’s Cup regatta was typically Kiwi, cautious and respectful. But Hutchinson’s claim that the Emirates Team New Zealand were more comfortable with a separation of two rather than 20 boat lengths was taken to the extreme in the opening encounter with the Italians on Friday.

If there was an exhilaration in the freedom with which Luna Rossa sailed against the mighty American team in the semi-fi-nals, a swashbuckling swing from the chandelier joy in their victory, this was desperate, hand-to-hand combat across every inch of the 3.3mile circuit.

The one surprise was the absence of fireworks in the prestart, which was delayed by a wind shift just as the boats were preparing to engage. A twirl, a chase out beyond the committee boat end of the line and a subtle switch of sides by Team New Zealand marked the much anticipated duel between James Spithill, the helmsman on Luna Rossa, and Dean Barker, his opposite number. If it was widely believed that, with the momentum and confidence behind him, the young Australian Spithill would destroy the New Zealander as comprehensively as he had done Chris Dickson, the helmsman and chief executive of BMW-Oracle, there was no sign of any such mismatch.

Barker, buoyed by the strength and power of his crew, slipped quietly away from the line in the favoured windward position and held the precious inside line throughout the race. At times the lead stretched to 70 metres, mostly it was less than 20. Downwind, the boats shadowed each other so closely, they seemed almost to merge into one as if joined by an invisible rope. One member of the Kiwi afterguard spent the whole of those legs looking backwards, constantly monitoring his pursuer’s tactics. The helmsman was in need of wing mirrors.

This was real match-racing, each move cancelled out by the opposition, tack meeting tack, gybe countered by gybe as two excellently drilled crews tried to eke the most out of every last breath of wind and push their rivals into one decisive mistake. None came.

At the end, both teams admitted it could have gone either way. Victory, by eight seconds, was fashioned not by tactical intuition or one moment of brilliance, but by the slick work of the grinders, trimmers and sewermen, those on board who do not get their names inscribed in the history of the America’s Cup.

When the New Zealanders crossed the line, the mood on board was more one of quiet satisfaction and relief than triumph. In terms of boat speed, preparation, tactical awareness and seamanship, there is precious little to choose between the Louis Vuitton Cup finalists, which only adds to the spectacle.

On Luna Rossa, defeat, narrow as it was, might have been more demoralising than initially supposed. They had thrown everything at the New Zealanders and still lost. Their morale, always prone to swift collapse, will be critical to the outcome in the coming days.

New Zealand took an even greater step closer yesterday to becoming the challenger for the Cup with a second, far more emphatic win over Luna Rossa. Their victory was an emphatic one, this time they crossed the finishing line a full 40 seconds ahead after the eight-second win on Friday.

The result was built on their confident and decisive tactics in the prestart. On the face of it, Spithill, Luna Rossa’s helmsman, had gained the right hand end of the start line, allowing the team to take the more advantageous right-hand side of the course.

But fighting hard for this position came at an expensive price for Spithill. As the starting gun went, both boats’ bows may have hit the line at the same time, but it was the Kiwis who gained the advantage, having already got up to full speed.

With two such closely matched teams, a small advantage at the start is often all that is required to develop a convincing win. A fraction more speed allowed the Kiwis to cultivate a 25-second lead at the first mark. By the bottom of the downwind leg the advantage had stretched to 35 seconds. On the second weather mark rounding, Emirates Team New Zealand had extended even further to hold a 39-second lead at the second and final weather mark rounding.

It was a resounding performance on beautiful day for racing on the waters off Valencia, with bright sunshine and warm temperatures generating a 12 to 14-knot breeze. A spectator fleet of more than 250 boats lined the borders of the race area to enjoy the spectacle.

With their modest and reserved style both on and off the water, the mood of Barker’s team is a difficult one to read, but there is little doubt that a second consecutive win will count for a great deal.

For the Italians, losing two matches in a row in a best of nine series may not spell the beginning of a crisis, but of the pair, the Italian team is more prone to impulsive reactions.

The New Zealanders had completed their preparations for the final by racing against Alinghi, the defending champions, a move that surprised some onlookers.

Grant Dalton, the head of the team, certainly took a gamble in pitting his top boat against the defending champions in what could well prove to be a rehearsal for the America’s Cup itself later this month.

His defence was that there was nobody else left to race and that his team could only benefit by fine-tuning their own technique against the best. It is looking like a shrewd piece of planning by the New Zealanders after yesterday’s victory.