Close quarterfinal loss for Venus, Metkic at Madrid Open

Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic have lost in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open to the tournament’s top seeds Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo.

It was a tense battle with little between the two teams, but Pavic and Arevalo edged it in the third set super tiebreak, winning the match 7-6(5) 4-6 10-5 in one hour 43 minutes.

Both teams had a break of serve in the opening set, before Venus and his Croatian partner won out in the tiebreak.

Pavic and Arevalo got the only break in the second set and the super tiebreak remained tight until the El Salvadoran-Croatian duo pulled away by winning the final four points to book themselves a place in the semifinals. 

Venus will remain 16 in the world when the doubles rankings are next released, ahead of the Italian Open, which begins on May 7. Mektic will stay at 13.

Meanwhile, Lulu Sun was defeated 6-0 6-2 by Oksana Selekhmeteva in her second round match at the Catalonia Open.

However, Sun is still alive in the doubles. In the semifinals, Sun and Leylah Fernandz defeated Ingrid Martins and Renata Zarazua 6-1 6-0.