Venus and Mektic stun top seeds at Queen’s Club

Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic have knocked out the top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic at the Queen’s ATP tournament in London.

Venus and Mektic defeated their El Salvadoran and Croatian opponents 6-4 2-6 10-6 for a win that will mean a lot to the pair.

This was the third time this year the two teams have faced each other, with Arevalo and Pavic triumphing in both Miami and Madrid, and they also beat them at the US Open in 2024.

But Venus has ended his four-match losing streak against Arevalo and Pavic, as he also lost to them with Neal Skupski in Montreal last year. However, this was one of Venus and Mektic's best performances of the year.

Arevalo had his serve broken in the opening game of the match and it was a lead Venus and Mektic didn’t relinquish in the set.

Venus dropped his serve in the fourth game of the next set, with the Kiwi double faulting at 30-40.

Four games later, Venus was down 0-40 at 2-5, as his opponents had four set points.

Venus saved the first three with some big serving, then on the deciding point deuce he slightly missed his timing with a forehand volley, putting the ball into the net when going for a winner.

In the super tiebreak, Pavic double faulted at 1-2, which was followed by three more points won by Venus and Mektic. 

At the second change of ends in the super tiebreak Venus and Mektic were up 7-5 and they progressed through to a 9-6 lead and on the first match point, Arevalo hit a forehand wide.

This is the second tournament in a row that Venus and Mektic have reached the semifinals, having also got that far in ’s-Hertogenbosch last week.

In Saturday's semifinal, Venus and Mektic will take on Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley.