Kiwi Venus in doubles semifinal
WELLINGTON: New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his United States partner, Ryan Harrison, are through to the semifinals of the French Open doubles.
It is the first time a New Zealand man has made the doubles semifinals of a Grand Slam since Brett Steven and American Tommy Ho reached the last four at the French Open in 1995.
Venus and Harrison downed seventhseeded Croatian Ivan Dodig and Spanish partner Marcel Granollers 62, 36, 63 in 91 minutes after a raindelayed match.
They broke Dodig twice in the opening set to take it 62 but the Kiwi was broken early in the second set, allowing Dodig and Granollers to level the match.
Games went with serve until the sixth game of the decider, when Granollers was broken and Venus and Harrison kept their composure to close out the match.
They will face Colombian 16th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for a place in the final tonight, NZ time.
‘‘It was always going to be a tough match, but I’m really excited to be through,’’ Venus said of the quarterfinal.
‘‘The level we played today was great and hopefully we can keep it going.
‘‘We started off the game well, we got up and that was key.
‘‘We managed to get the first two points in the game, and our energy and excitement raised and the shots started to fall for us.’’
They saved seven of eight break points against their serve in the match which was a telling statistic.
Venus and Harrison were able to convert three of their seven breakpoint chances.
South Americans Cabal and Farah reached the Roland Garros doubles final in 2011, and Venus says they will present a huge challenge.
‘‘They are an established doubles team and obviously playing well so it is going to be another tough match.’’ — NZN