For the second successive grand slam, two Kiwis have progressed past the first round of the men's doubles.
After Artem Sitak enjoyed a straight sets victory on Wednesday, Michael Venus toughed out an impressive win yesterday afternoon.
In scorching conditions in the full glare of Melbourne's afternoon sun, Venus andpartner Oliver Marach of Austria beat Peter Gojowczyk (Germany) and Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-6 (4) in 78 minutes.
It was always going to be a tough match. Gojowczyk is a former top 100 singles player and Rosol has an impressive CV. The Czech famously beat Nadal at Wimbledon in 2012 and was part of the Czech Republic's Davis Cup victory the same year. He's talented - he reached a career high of No26 last September - and incredibly tough: he was part of a Davis Cup doubles match in 2013 that lasted more than seven hours, with the amazing scoreline of 24-22 in the fifth set.
The match, played on an outside court in 35C, was an intense battle. After taking the first set with an early break, Venus and Marach spurned further break chances in the second set. They also gave up an early lead in the tie-break as their opponents levelled at 4-4. But two booming Venus serves changed the momentum and were enough to seal the win.
"We served well all day and if we do that we can go deep in sets," said a delighted Venus. "We hung tough on our return game. You just need to stay solid and wait for your chances, especially against guys of this quality."
The Kiwi-Austrian duo will face third seeds Bruno Soares (Brazil) and Alexander Peya (Austria) in the second round. Peya and Soares have been together since 2012. They reached the US Open final in 2013 and also have five Masters finals - and two titles - to their name.
"They are obviously very good," said Venus, who lost to the same duo in the third round of the US Open last year.
"But we just have to stay with them and look for opportunities. It's good that I have played them before - last time even when we were hitting up it was a bit intimidating. It won't be this time."
