Venus, Klaasen out of ATP finals doubles contest

AUCKLAND: New Zealander Michael Venus and his South African partner, Raven Klaasen, have been eliminated from the doubles competition at the ATP Finals in London.

The sixth seeds were beaten 63, 76 (5) by the secondseeded Colombian pair of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in 1hr 24min.

The loss ends Venus and Klaasen’s impressive first season together in which they reached the Wimbledon final, won one title in Marseille in February, and reached three other finals, including their first ATP Masters 1000 final together in Toronto.

Venus and Klaasen got off to the worst possible start yesterday. After Venus held serve, Klaasen was broken in his opening service game and the Colombians served impeccably in the first set, dropping just three points on serve.

Serving to stay in the set at 35, Venus was broken and Farah and Cabal clinched the opener 63.

Venus and Klaasen, who had beaten their opponents twice this year, hit back at the start of the second set with an early break. But the Kiwi served a poor game when leading 32 and doublefaulted to hand the break back.

The set and match was decided in a tiebreak, which Farah and Cabal clinched 75 on their fourth match point to secure their place in the semifinals along with Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares from their group.

Venus and Klaasen earned a share of $US146,000 ($NZ213,715) just for qualifying for the ATP Finals and they got another $US56,000 for their win in their second group match.

The Kiwi ends his season with around $US870,000 in prize money and is ranked 12th in the ATP doubles rankings, one place behind his partner. — RNZ