Tough losses for Kiwis in Miami

The two doubles combinations featuring Kiwis in the big Miami Masters tennis tournament in Florida have suffered first round losses against tough opponents today.

Michael Venus and Serbian partner Viktor Troicki were defeated by the experienced pair of Jean-Julien Rojer (The Netherlands) and Horia Tecau (Romania) 6-4 7-5 in their match while Marcus Daniell made the main draw as an alternate with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner.

Unfortunately Daniell and Demoliner drew the sixth seeds Lukasz Kubot (Poland) and Marcelo Melo (Brazil) and were beaten after holding a first set lead. The final score was 6-2 6-7(0) 7-10 to the seeded pair.

Daniell will now play in the Wellington Tennis Open next weekend as build to the Davis Cup against Korea in Auckland the following weekend.

Meanwhile at the US$50000 Guadalajara Challenger in Mexico another Davis Cup player, Artem Sitak and Mexicos Santiago Gonzalez have reached the doubles semifinals, but Queenstown Ben Mclachlan and Australian Jarryd Chaplin lost in the quarters of the same event.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from New Zealand Tennis