Venus and Peers make great start in Hamburg

Michael Venus and his Australian doubles partner John Peers have cruised into the second round at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg, the European Open.

Venus and Peers have beaten Finland’s Henri Kontinen and Italian singles star Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-4 in exactly 1 hour. It was a dominant performance from the Rome Masters semi finalists who raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set. Venus and Peers converted 3 of their 9 break point chances and only faced two break points in the match which they saved.

Venus and Peers will face third seeds Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo in the quarter finals.

Meanwhile Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philip Oswald play their second-round match at the Forli Challenger tournament in Italy tonight. Daniell and Oswald face the Italian duo of Lorenzo Moretti and Andrea Pellegrino.

Artem Sitak and his Slovakian partner Igor Zelenay are the first alternates for next week’s French Open but Sitak is confident another pair will withdraw ether before Sunday’s doubles draw or after the tournament has started to allow them to play.