Valanecia. Wednesday 16th May,2007. Spanish home team, Desafío Español 2007, beat Emirates Team New Zealand for the first time after 10 matches at the 32nd America’s Cup. The Spanish team badly needed the victory. The result closes up the score in their best of nine Semi Final match to 2-1 with the Kiwis leading. It was a convincing win, with helmsman Karol Jablonski putting a penalty on the Emirates Team New Zealand in the pre-start.  Desafío Español 2007 then led Emirates Team New Zealand around the course, extending away on the second lap for a comprehensive win.

In the other match of the day Luna Rossa Challenge led of the starting line and sailed a tactically conservative match to beat BMW ORACLE Racing. The Italians led for the entire contest.

Tuesday, 15th May, 2007. Emirates Team New Zealand went to a 2 - 0 lead over Desafío Español in one of the Semi Final pairings. The Spanish boat was quick downwind, making gains on three of the four runs. However the Emirates squad never led by less than 30 seconds at any of the turning marks.