Team New Zealand have advanced to the challenger final at the America's Cup, after completing a 5-2 win over Ben Ainslie Racing in their semifinal on Friday (NZ time).

Sweden's Artemis Racing lead Team Japan 4-3 in the other semifinal, and will have to race on Saturday to find out who progresses.

The Kiwis will now get a day off, ahead of the best-of-nine challenger final starting on Sunday, and the America's Cup match against defenders Oracle is now in sight.

Peter Burling won the start for the first time all day in the third race, after Ben Ainslie got his boat too deep in the start box, and Team NZ were able to open up an 8s advantage at the first mark.

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At the second and needing a win to survive, Ainslie opted for a split, but couldn't find a favourable wind shift, and Team NZ's advantage only grew. They had never lost when leading at the first mark during this regatta, and they showed no signs of letting that record slip.

There was also no sign of the stability issues that had plagued them during their loss in the second race.

After Team NZ won the first race of the day, the second was a must-win for BAR, and they delivered an impressive performance to stay alive.

RICARDO PINTO/ACEA 2017 Team NZ seemed to suffer an error in the pre-start of the first race on Friday.

The race was a tad concerning for the Kiwis, as their boat appeared less stable than usual, and they showed no sign of the speed that had helped them erase a 450m deficit in the first outing of the day.

The two boats marked each other closely in the pre-start, and BAR opened up a slight lead as they rounded the first mark.

Just after they reached the bottom mark and headed upwind, Team NZ had a scary moment, when they came off their foils while turning, but they were able to recover.

GILLES MARTIN-RAGET/ACEA 2017 After less than 48 hours of repairs, Team NZ returned to the water on Friday.

BAR had a 13s lead at the third mark, where Peter Burling opted for a split, and that seemed to help Team NZ find some speed, but they were still behind as they turned back upwind, and couldn't make the gains they needed.

The British boat won by 20s in the end.

Team NZ won the first race of the day, less than 48 hours after the dramatic capsize that damaged their boat on Wednesday (NZ time), but they had to come from behind to do so.

Their boat's port-side daggerboard rose out of the water as they were about to begin and that brought them to a halt and allowed BAR to open up a huge advantage - they had a 26s lead at the first mark.

But as Team NZ got up to speed, they were able to reel the Brits in, reducing the lead to 11s at the third gate, after making huge gains on the first upwind leg.

Burling opted for a split at the bottom mark, and as they headed upwind again, Team NZ were able to take the lead. Some sloppy sailing from BAR helped them, but they would have got there anyway.

After the race Burling said that they "weren't really sure why" the daggerboard had come up, and paid tribute to his shore crew, who had done an "absolutely incredible job".

"Full credit to the shore team for getting us out here, the boat was definitely at 100 per cent and we showed that with the way we grinded them down."

Meanwhile, Artemis Racing have come back from 3-1 down to take a 4-3 lead in their semifinal against Dean Barker's Team Japan.

Team Japan misjudged the start in their first race of the day, and were penalised for going early and could never catch up, and they were then outwitted at the start of the second race, and despite a fierce contest throughout, they couldn't catch up in that one either. The third race was closer, but a penalty against Japan at the fifth gate helped Artemis to take the win.

That semifinal will be completed on Saturday, with the challenger series final - another best-of-nine series - set to begin on Sunday.

The winner of the challenger series then races defender Oracle in the America's Cup match, which is set to start next Sunday.

Friday's results

Team NZ beat BAR by 31s (Team NZ lead 4-1)

Artemis Racing beat Team Japan by 39s (Team Japan lead 3-2)

BAR beat Team NZ by 20s (Team NZ lead 4-2)

Artemis Racing beat Team Japan by 28s (Tied 3-3)

Team NZ beat BAR by 46s (Team NZ win 5-2)

Artemis Racing beat Team Japan by 1m 46s (Artemis Racing lead 4-3)