Top ranked Kiwi doubles player Michael Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen have lost a tight final at the ATP 250 tournament in s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
The second seeded Venus and Klaasen have been beaten 7-6 (3) 7-5 in 1 hr 26 by third seeds Hungary's FrankoSkugor and Britain's Dominic Inglot in the final. It was tight all the way with no breaks of serve in the opening set.
Both team's traded breaks in the second set before Klaasen was broken in the 12th game to lose the match.
Venus and Klaasen now head to Halle in Germany where they have been drawn against the German wildcard pair of Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. Struff used to play with ex Kiwi Ben McLachlan but he is teaming up with top Japanese player Kei Nishikori.
Meanwhile Kiwi Artem Sitak following his semi-final effort in s-Hertogenbosch, has bowed out in the first round of qualifying in Halle.
Sitak and his Indian partner Divij Sharan have lost 6-3 3-6 10-2 to the German pair of Andre Begemann and Dustin Brown in 1 hr 5.
Fellow Kiwi Marcus Daniell has made his long awaited return from a wrist injury at the Queens grass court tournament in London with his new doubles partner Wesley Koolhof.
The pair were the top seeds in qualifying but they have lost their first round qualifying match 4-6 6-4 10-7 in a match tie break to Romania's Marius Copil and Britain's Ken Skupski.
