Team NZ, Azzurra remain unbeaten at Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Team New Zealand and Italy's Azzurra were the only unbeaten teams Wednesday after the second day of match races among America's Cup teams at the Louis Vuitton Trophy sailing regatta.

Host Team New Zealand capitalized on a gear failure aboard the Italian entrant Mascalzone Latino to come from behind for its second win in two races. A clip holding up the Italians' headsail broke, causing the jib to drop and allowing the New Zealanders to sail to a 4 minute, 43 second win.

Azzurra, helmed by Francesco Bruni, beat Russia's Synergy by 41 seconds to maintain its unbeaten record after two match races in the regatta's first round robin.

In other races, Britain's TeamOrigin posted its first win when it beat the French-German entry All4One by one minute 33 seconds. Sweden's Artemis, skippered by American Paul Cayard, beat Aleph of France by one minute 22 seconds.

Mascalzone Latino, seeking its first win of the regatta, used a bold starting strategy to gain an early advantage and led Team New Zealand by 22 seconds at the first mark.

Team New Zealand, skippered by Dean Barker, pulled back the lead by the second upwind leg and was strongly pressing Mascalzone when the jib clip broke aboard the Italian yacht and sent the headsail crashing down.

"That was our race to win and a tough way to lose," said Mascalzone's New Zealand helmsman Gavin Brady.

Russia's Synergy, skippered by Karol Jablonski, led across the start line and for much of the first beat in a close race with Azzurra before the Italians forced a tacking duel and prized back the lead near the first mark.

Bruni was able to consolidate for the remainder of the race but Synergy, still without a win after two races, showed it will be competitive against even the strongest teams.

TeamOrigin, skippered and helmed by triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, won the start against Sebastien Col's All4One and was 70 metres ahead at the first cross. All4One was still close at the second weather mark but lost a minute on the final run.

Aleph gave up a 50-metre lead over the startline to Artemis, skippered by Cayard and helmed by American Terry Hutchinson, and was unable to recover.

Artemis remained in firm control through the race to post its first win.