The Emirates Team New Zealand squad now sits one win away from a trip to the America’s Cup Match.

Match 4 – Team New Zealand def. Luna Rossa (0'52'')

It was a light, challenging day on the waters off Valencia. Cloud cover hindered development of a sea breeze and the race was conducted in a tricky 6 to 9 knot Northeasterly breeze.

There was a short postponement when a windshift came across the race course just before the scheduled start time. After re-setting the starting line, racing began in 8 knots of wind before a big spectator fleet.

Entering from the left, Luna Rossa began the pre-start well, James Spithill managing to cross the bow of Emirates Team New Zealand as both boats sailed deep into the box.

However, it didn’t seem Dean Barker was too worried about giving up the right, because when the start gun fired the boats exited the start on opposite tacks, the Italians sailing out to the right on port tack, the Kiwis out to the left.

For the first time in the series, a big separation opened up across the course, reaching more than 1100 metres before Luna Rossa was the first to tack. The Kiwis eventually tacked too, but when the boats converged on the centre of the course again, the Italians had made a big gain, leading by nearly four boatlengths.

However, a smaller separation opened up before the second cross, and this time the Kiwis had reduced the deficit to 40 metres, about a boatlength and a half.

Luna Rossa tacked to leeward of the port-tack Kiwis, but were not close enough to give NZL 92 bad air. Dean Barker kept his boat trucking along on the hip of ITA 94, and when a small shift came in from the left, the Kiwis moved ahead.

"We definitely could, but we felt we were on a leftie and wanted to defend the right side which we thought was good, and take which position we thought was safe", said Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael on not getting closer on the second cross.

"They hung out with a nice leftie with pressure and made a huge gain in a short period", he added. "From then on it was quite difficult for us to come back because we weren’t in a strong position to do so".

"It’s hard to predict those things - the right came, but it came late, and we couldn’t benefit from it. Knowing what happened now I would have got closer, but it’s a hard situation there, you have to decide right then on the information you have, and with what I had, I felt I was doing the right thing. I trust my weather team completely, we have done two Cups together, and we have a wonderful relationship. It’s up to us to use their calls and sometimes we use them right and sometimes we don’t."

The New Zealanders then carried the race out to the starboard layline and beyond. When they tacked and the Italians followed, the gap was now up to several boatlengths, and around the first mark the delta was 19 seconds.

Luna Rossa tried to attack with a flurry of gybes in the light conditions, but the New Zealand crew were more than a match for any moves. Extra gybes from Luna Rossa at the bottom of the course proved expensive, making the leeward gate delta 54 seconds.

It was nothing but pain for the Italians from then on, and they finished 52 seconds behind the seemingly invincible Kiwis.

There have been big comebacks in America's Cup history. No teams, however, have come back from 4-0 down.

In 1983, Australia 2 ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year stranglehold on yachting's biggest prize when it overturned a 3-1 deficit to triumph 4-3.

In 1992, Michael Fay's last New Zealand challenge went down 5-3 to Italy's Il Moro di Venezia in the LV Cup final, after leading 4-1 before having a win annulled in the protest room.