Team New Zealand made significant improvements on their second day of racing at the America's Cup World Series event off San Francisco.
After emphatically winning their match race quarter-final against the British boat skippered by Ben Ainslie, the team also climbed in the fleet racing standings.
They climbed from ninth to seventh in the fleet regatta after taking fifth and third placings in race three and four on Saturday (NZT).
However, skipper Dean Barker was still far from satisfied with their efforts.
"The day started well. Winning the quarter-final against Ben Ainslie when we have not done much match racing lately was a good result," Barker said.
"We are disappointed that we did not finish the job on the second fleet race. We had the opportunities to really nail it and we did not execute it well enough."
In breezy conditions, Barker and crew James Dagg, Glenn Ashby, Ray Davies and Derek Saward eclipsed multiple Olympic champion Ainslie's boat at the start and were never seriously threatened as they won by 33 seconds.
Team New Zealand led at various stages in both dramatic fleet races but couldn't maintain control as positions jumped around.
Team New Zealand were to face Oracle 4, skippered by Australian James Spithill, in the match semi-finals on Sunday.
Points after four fleet races: Oracle 4 (Spithill) 39, Team Korea 31, Luna Rossa Piranha 30, Energy Team 27, Artemis White 25, Artemis Red 24, Team New Zealand 23, Luna Rossa Swordfish 23, JPM-BAR 20, Oracle 5 (Coutts) 18, China Team 6.
NZN