Ups and downs at US Open

SUCCESS: Jim Wood (left), Marcus Daniell and Jonathon Marray after the pair's first round doubles win at the US Open.

Masterton tennis ace Marcus Daniell made a decent fist of his debut appearance at the United States Open, winning his first round doubles match and losing narrowly in the second.

Daniell combined with Briton Jonathan Marray to beat the American pair of Reily Opelka and Taylor Harry Fritz 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in their opening encounter. Marray has been ranked as high as number 15 in the world at doubles and won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2013

Opelka and Fritz are considered among the best juniors produced in the United States in years with both being ranked in the top four in the world for their age group.

Among those cheering Daniell on to victory was 87-year-old Jim Wood, father of Emily Crofoot of Castlepoint Station.

He was suitably impressed by Daniell's speed around the court and the composure which enabled him to serve out the third set.

Marray, on the other hand, gave a mixed performance, double faulting twice and missing a couple of volleys when he and Daniell looked to have the second set under control.

There was early disappointment for Daniell's Davis Cup teammate Artem Sitak who teamed up with Jonathan Erlich of Israel.

They lost their first round match 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 to the Italian combination of Andreas Seppi and Marco Cecchinato after spending more than two hours on court. Seppi and Cecchinato won 7-4 in the final tiebreaker.

The second round match between Daniell and Marray and Phillip Oswald (Austria ) and Adil Shamasdin (Canada) was a see-saw affair with Oswald and Shamasdin eventually taking the honours 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

Daniell was left ruing opportunities after the close-fought affair.

"I don't think anyone out there today felt like they played well, it was an ugly battle," he said. "There are definitely positives from getting through the first round match and competing. "But the disappointing thing is Jonny and I knew we could win it but we didn't step up, and that's a little bit hard to stomach."

Daniell's effort should earn him enough ATP ranking points to move him inside the top 70 ranked doubles players in the world and he also took away just over US$10,000 ($15,000) in prize money.