The Kiwis came off the right side of the start even with the Italians but pushed ahead up the first leg behind the stronger right hand wind shift. Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Dean Barker matched counterpart James Spithill's every move as the Kiwis covered splits and engaged in tacking duels without trailing before crossing the line eight seconds in front.

The America's Cup challenger series winner advances to race defending champion Alinghi from June 23-July 4.

The start lacked the fireworks of the semifinals, where Spithill had the Italians out of the box with the lead in every flight on their way to a 5-1 rout of American entry BMW Oracle Racing.

Luna Rossa came in on the favored starboard side, but decided it wanted the left. With Barker favoring the right, both teams avoided picking up a penalty, though Spithill tried to engage Barker as they approached the line.

Spithill laid off before both teams crossed the start at pace, with Barker holding the right hand advantage, which proved to be the decisive position.

The Kiwis tacked first with the Italians matching to keep their opponents from getting away.

Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the first marker with a 12-second advantage as Luna Rossa trailed around a marker for the first time since a round-robin loss to the Kiwis on May 7 --a span of nine races.

The Kiwis stretched their lead to three boat lengths on the first downwind lap before Luna Rossa gybed to engage the Kiwis, with the NZL-92 boat matching the ITA-94 yacht's move.

With the race committee shifting the course to the right over the final two legs, Barker defended his favored position as the Kiwis came in on starboard with a clean spinnaker drop to lead by nine seconds around the second marker.

Luna Rossa tacked immediately to split before the two boats converged with the Kiwis' lead down to one boat length.

A tacking duel developed up the second upwind leg as the Kiwis pushed their lead back to three boat lengths and came around the final marker with an increased lead of 11 seconds.

The NZL-92's superior speed was the difference on the final lap as it held despite nervously covering Luna Rossa's gybes.