Michael Venus has shown his class in his opening round doubles match at the US Open in New York but there has been a gut-wrenching defeat for Kiwi number 2 Marcus Daniell at Flushing Meadows.
Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen, the 3rd seeds, have crushed the Frenchpair of Giles Simon and Adrian Mannarino, 6-2 6-1 in just 48 minutes. They broke serve four times from seven looks in a straightforward romp over the singles specialists.
Venus and Klaasen will next face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and Norwegian Casper Ruud for a place in the third round.
New Zealand's Marcus Daniell has experienced the biggest court in tennis but came up just short.
The Kiwi number two and his British partner Ken Skupski have been beaten by Aussie Nick Kyrgios and Romanian Marius Copil 6-7(5) 7-5, 7-6 (1) in 2 hours 19. It was a match that was moved to the Arthur Ashe Stadium centre court. It was a match that could have gone either way and Daniell and Skupski certainly had more than a few chances
Earlier there was disappointment for Artem Sitak and his Ukranian partner Denys Molchanov. They proved no match for the 2nd seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, slumping to a 6-2 6-4 defeat in 1 hour and 12 minutes. Sitak was broken in the first game of the match and he and Molchanov failed to conjure up a break point against their much-vaunted opponents.
