Some fine long-range shooting by Maria Tutaia backed up by excellent defence has taken defending champions New Zealand to a 39-26 win over Australia at the Fast5 netball world series in Auckland.
The result in unsurprisingly the most intense encounter of the seven pool matches on day one left the Fast5 Ferns with two wins and as the only unbeaten team.
Australia and Jamaica also have two wins, but both played one more match.
New Zealand were down 12-4 during the second quarter against Australia and struggling for fluency when Tutaia dragged them back into the contest with a hat-trick of three-point "super shots".
The last spun around the rim before dropping to cut the deficit to 14-13 at halftime.
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Australia chose the third quarter as their double-point power play, but couldn't take adequate advantage.
The Flyers scored just one goal, for two points, as New Zealand snatched a 17-16 lead going into their own power-play quarter.
From there, the Ferns were able to pull away, helped by shooter Cathrine Latu draining two super-shots worth a total of 12 points.
Earlier, Australia, who failed to win a game last year, made a great start to their campaign by downing 2012 runners-up England 40-19.
They had a tighter battle against a plucky Malawi side before prevailing 42-37.
New Zealand made effective use of their power play to overcome Jamaica 43-22.
Pool play in the six-nation tournament continues on Saturday, before the play-offs on Sunday.
