Tennis: Michael Venus advances in Eastbourne

Michael Venus ( NZL ) during the Men's Doubles final, Roland Garros, 10 June 2017. Copyright photo: Panoramic / www.photosport.nz

Mixed news for Kiwi doubles players Michael Venus and Artem Sitak in their final ATP tournament before Wimbledon.

Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen have won through to the second round in Eastbourne with a 7-5 6-4 win in 1 hr 11 over Chilean Nicolas Jarry and Argentina's Leonardo Mayer.

But Artem Sitak and his Indian partner Divij Sharan have lost 6-4 6-4 in 1 hr 7 to top seeds Colombians Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Venus says they served very well throughout the match.

"They are both highly ranked singles guys and big boys and have good serves. So we worked hard and created a few chances and managed to come through on them today." Venus said.

Venus and Klaasen are the 3rd seeds at Eastbourne and they will face wither the British pair of Ken and Neal Skupski or Poland's Marcin Matkowski and Japan's Ben McLachlan in the second round. McLachlan is an ex Kiwi from Queenstown who switched allegiances to Japan in 2016. (He has a Japanese mother)

The other Kiwi in the draw, Marcus Daniell starts his campaign tonight with Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof against Americans Ryan Harrison and Nicholas Monroe.

Listen to "Game Set and Match podcast - June 26" on Spreaker.