Venus wins in Dubai but Routliffe bows out of Doha

It’s been a mixed day for the New Zealanders at the ATP and WTA tournaments in the Middle East.

Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz playing for the first time since their controversial Australian Open quarter final defeat to Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, have won through to the second round at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai.

They have beaten Germany’s Jan Lennard Struff and Israel’s Jonathan Erlich 4-6,6-1, 10-5 in an hour and 13 minutes. The fourth seeds will face Frenchman Fabrice Martin and Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev for a place in the semi-finals.

Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska have been well beaten in their quarter final at the WTA 1000 tournament in Doha.

They have lost 6-1 6-2 in 46 minutes to Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Japan’s Shuko Aoyama. Routliffe will be at a new career high ranking next week of around 32 in the world.

Michael Venus after reaching Dubai quarter finals from Tennis NZ on Vimeo.