Kiwi Venus draws Bautista Agut

New Zealand’s Michael Venus has been drawn against 2016 ASB Classic champion Roberto Bautista Agut.

It’s a tough first-round opponent for the doubles specialist, with Bautista Agut the fifth seed.

With the top four seeds given first-round byes, Venus would have hoped for someone not quite as good as the Spaniard, ranked 19 in the world.

Venus’ last singles match was against Xia Zihao from China, who was ranked 800 and the Kiwi lost that 7-6 7-6.

The 30-year-old Kiwi doesn’t even have a singles ranking these days, but his talent in this form of the game shouldn’t be underestimated.

The only reason he devoted himself to doubles was because he could make a better living in this form of the game.

Venus has a huge serve and through doubles has become great at volleying.

However, against Bautista Agut, whose strength is his consistency, he’s going to have to be extremely aggressive.

It could well be that the Venus v Bautista Agut clash is the feature match on Monday evening as they both arrived early.

‘‘It’s a great draw (for Venus),’’ Classic tournament director Karl Budge said.

‘‘Mike is going to have to go out there and play his game.

‘‘The reason why I gave him a wildcard is because he can go out there and hurt people.’’