Sawt Falasteen - Britain and Italy inseparable in Louis Vuitton Cup final

The victor of the first-to-seven battle will take on double defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand for the 37th America's Cup in October.

The British team opened up a 3-2 lead with a strong performance in the first race of the day at high wind speeds but their Italian opponents battled back superbly.

Ineos Britannia took control in the pre-start of the opening tussle with Luna Rossa falling off the foils.

The British team never relinquished control from there and defended well to keep their opponents at bay and triumphed by 12 seconds.

"(It was) a great race, they came back well (after) an issue at the start, they pushed us well, it was a nice race," said Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie.

The second race was similar except this time it was Luna Rossa who made the fractionally better start.

The Italians gave their opponents little chance of nudging in front and began to extend their lead in a flawless display.

Luna Rossa sealed victory by 17 seconds to leave the teams all square heading into Tuesday's racing.

"The boat was sailing well today, it was a pity about the little mistake on the first race," said Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco Bruni.

"(That was) super good, nice conditions, super enjoyable sailing today."

O.Mousa--SF-PST