Sitak on verge of qualifying for main draw doubles in Acapulco

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak has survived a first round qualifying match at the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco in Mexico.

Playing with Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, the Kiwi number three has won a match tie break against Mexican wild card pair, Gerardo Lopez Villasenor, and Luis Patino 6-4 6-7 10-3. Sitak and Koepfer served for the match twice but were broken at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set before prevailing.

The will face Australian’s Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith for a place in the main draw on Monday afternoon. It would provide a huge lift for the Kiwi after a disappointing South American swing where he and American partner Nick Monroe lost three first round matches in a row.

Meanwhile fresh of reaching the final at the ATP 250 tournament in Dohan, in form Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald have received a challenging draw at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai. They have been pitted against Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin. The French pair lost a tight match against Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev in the semi-finals in Doha. The Russians went on to beat Daniell and Oswald in the final.

“They’re obviously a strong team, having posted consistent results for the last couple of years including a final at Roland Garros.” Daniell said.

“In saying that, every team is strong here and there are very few soft matches. We're confident against the best teams in the world and are just going to keep the ball rolling from Doha.”