Straight sets win for Venus, Skupski at US Open

Michael Venus and Neal Skupski are through to the second round of the men’s doubles at the US Open.

In their first-round match on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time), they defeated the French duo of Hugo Gaston and Gregorie Jacq 6-3 6-3.

It was a fairly regulation victory for Venus and Skupski, the tournament’s No 8 seeds, winning the match in 64 minutes.

Venus and Skupski won all three of the break points they had in the match and hit 34 winners, compared to 21 from their opponents.

In their next match, they play against Guido Andreozzi from Argentina and India’s Sriram Balaji. Andreozzi and Balaji defeated Marcus Daniell and Miguel Reyes-Varela 5-7 6-1 7-6(10) in the first round.

Venus has partnered with Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles in New York and together they’re the No 2 seeds.

In the first round they’ve been drawn against Alycia Parks and Jackson Withrow, who are both from the States.

Meanwhile, Lulu Sun has said she hopes to play doubles at the US Open, despite retiring from her singles match against Lucia Bronzetti after losing the first set 6-3.

Sun looked to be bothered by a hip injury during the match, but in an Instagram post she has hinted that the injury may not be too serious.

“Hi everyone, quick update..as most of you saw I had to unfortunately retire from my match,” Sun wrote.

“This time my body just didn’t hold up to be able to compete. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the fans who came out to support me, it means a lot!

“Even though I wasn’t able to finish the match I still felt your energy! I’ll be working hard with my team to come back better and stronger. Doing my best to prepare for doubles.”

Sun has teamed up with Wang Xiyu for the doubles and they’ve been drawn against Tereza Mihalkova from Slovakia and Britain’s Olivia Nicholls in the opening round.