Tennis: Venus into final

Kiwi tennis player Michael Venus has shown good form ahead of next week's Davis Cup tie, reaching the singles final at the US$15,000 futures tournament in Australia.

Venus continued his run of straight set victories, beating Australia Nick Krygrios 7-6 6-3 in the semifinals to set up a title decider against Australian Adam Feeney.

The New Zealand Davis Cup team, who play Chinese Taipei in Taipei next week, also includes Artem Sitak and non-playing captain Marcel Vos.

Meanwhile, at the US$15,000 Kashiwa futures in Japan, Rubin Statham and Dan King-Turner lost the doubles final against the local pair Sho Katayama and Takao Suzuki. 3-6 6-3 10-8.