Michael Venus kicks off new partnership with victory in DC, win for Routliffe too

Michael Venus and India’s Yuki Bhambri got their new partnership off to a winning start.

In the first round of the Washington ATP 500 tournament, they have defeated Andre Goransson from Sweden and the Netherlands’ Sem Verbeek 6-7(1) 7-6(3) 10-6 in a match that lasted for a minute over two hours.

There were no breaks of serve in the opening set, even though Venus and Bhambri saved  four break points against them.

The second set started with a break to each team, before once again the match was dominated by big serving. But this time Venus and Bhambri came through in the tiebreak, partly thanks to a couple of double faults by their opponents.

In the super tiebreak, there were two more double faults from Goransson and Verbeek, while Venus and Bhambri both served aces on their way to this victory.

This is the first tournament Venus and Bhambri have played together since agreeing to form a partnership after Wimbledon and it follows Venus’s split with Nikola Mektic.

They did play together early in their careers and made it through qualifying to reach the third round of the Australian Open in 2014.

They only decided to split then because Bhambri wanted to focus on singles. But they remained good friends and with the Indian now focusing on doubles, they have reunited.

In the quarterfinals in Washington they will play Neal Skupski from Britain and Australia’s John-Patrick Smith.

Later in the day, Erin Routliffe, who has teamed up with her good friend Asia Muhammad this week, won their first round match, but had an almighty battle.

They defeated Ulrikke Eikeri from Norway and Japan’s Sri Hozumi 6-1 4-6 12-10.

In the quarterfinals, Routliffe and Muhammad take on the Chinese duo of Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.