Tennis: Michael Venus off to a strong start at the US Open

Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen. Photo / Getty

Kiwis Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell have got their US Open campaigns off to fine starts in New York.

New Zealand's top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen have cruised into the second round.

The 8th seeds have beaten singles specialists Lukas Lacko of Slovakia and Australian John Millman 6-2 6-2 in 55 minutes.

Daniell and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have also advanced in straight sets but had a much tougher battle against Belarussian Max Mirnyi and Austrian Philipp Oswald, winning 6-3 7-6 (8) in 1 hour 38.

Venus and Klaasen stamped their class on proceedings in their match and served well throughout and were not broken while they converted four of their eight break point chances to complete a convincing win. They were so dominant they won nearly twice as many points as their opponents. (59-36)

The Kiwi and South African combination are eyeing a deep run at Flushing Meadows which should just about secure them a place at the ATP World Tour finals in London. They are currently 6th in the race with the top eight teams after the Paris Masters in early November qualifying for the lucrative tournament at the O2 Arena.

Their form over the past couple of months has made them one of the most feared doubles teams on tour having reached the Wimbledon final in July and the ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto earlier this month.

Venus and Klaasen will face either Argentine Maximo Gonzalez and Chilean Nicolas Jarry or Spaniard David Marrero and Poland's Marcin Matkowski in the second round.

Daniell and Koolhof started well taking the first set comfortably but had to dig deep in the second set against an experienced pair.

Daniell had to save two second set points on his serve at 5-6 to take it into a tie breaker which was a roller coaster affair. Daniell and Koolhof shot out to 3-1 and trailed 5-3 before saving two set points at 6-4. They converted on their second match point, winning the tie breaker 10-8.

They will face either in form fourth seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray or Guido Pella and Albert Ramos Vinolas in the second round.

The third Kiwi in the field Artem Sitak and his Indian partner Divij Sharan will face the American wildcard pair of Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu on Friday morning NZT.