Venus and Puetz advance to semis in Halle
Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz have continued their strong start to the grass court season in Halle in Germany.
The third seeds are through to the semi-finals at the ATP 500 tournament. They reached the final at the 250-event last week in Stuttgart.
Venus and Puetz have beaten German’s Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 7-5 7-5 in an hour and 40 minutes to reach the last four.
The Kiwi/German combination delivered a flawless serving performance in the first set and an early break had them race to a 3-0 lead in the second. But their opponents who have won Roland Garros twice managed to get the break back before Venus and Puetz broke again in the 12th game to take the match.
Their dominance is illustrated by the break point chances with Venus and Puetz breaking serve three times from 12 looks and saving two of the three break points against their serve.
They will take on French Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo for a place in the final and will be eyeing a bit of revenge after losing to them in Paris.