It was so close, but New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus has just missed out on winning his fourth ATP doubles title of the year on the eve of the French Open.
Venus and Croatian partner Mate Pavic came agonisingly close to defending their Nice ATP tour title but were defeated in the final by the top seeded Colombian team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Seeded second Venus and Pavic won the first set 6-4 but dropped the second 4-6 and in the final set match tiebreak the Colombians fought back from 5-3 down to eventually win the match and their third title of the year.
Venus and Pavic now travel to Paris for the French Open and is happy to be on court again with his regular partner, Pavic.
"It has been great to be back on court with Mate after not playing together for a little while. We did some things well this week, but there are still areas to improve on. Next week is a new tournament so we need to keep trying to improve and enjoy Roland Garros." Venus said. "Unfortunately the other guys played some good shots on a couple of important points and got there."
Venus is one of three Kiwis in the doubles draw at Roland Garros with Artem Sitak playing with American Nicholas Monroe and Marcus Daniell teaming with another American in Brian Baker.