Venus and Puetz march on at Roland Garros

Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz are through to the third round of the men’s doubles at the French Open in Paris.

The 7^th seeds have beaten the French pair of Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 24 minutes.

Venus and Puetz served superbly in the first set. They broke Rinderknech in the 10^th game of the opening set to clinch it in 40 minutes. It was a set where Venus and Puetz had largely been untroubled on serve.

After Puetz held to love to start the second set Bonzi was broken in his opening service game after a stinging return of serve from the German. At a set and 2-0 Venus and Puetz looked to be cruising but an inspired return game from the French pair quickly had Venus at 0-40 and the Kiwi had to dig deep to stave off the three break points and hold for a 3-0 lead.

But after Rinderknech held serve Puetz was broken for the first time in the match after serving a double fault at 30-40 and the second set was back on serve.

It was tight for the remainder of the set, Puetz had to save another break point but as they did in the first set at 4-5,the French pair cracked. This time it was Bonzi who found himself 15-40 down serving to stay in the match and he put a high volley into the net to lose the match.

Venus is rapt with the way he and Puetz have gelled together after the German missed most of the clay court season with an ankle injury suffered at the Monte Carlo Masters.

“You never know quite what's going to happen. But it was great being back on court with him and some of the things we've been working on in practice we have done well. We are both clear what we are trying to do individually and as a team.”

Venus and Puetz will face  12^th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo for a place in the quarter finals.

Meanwhile Erin Routliffe and her Uruguayan partner Ariel Behar are out of the Mixed doubles, beaten 6-4 6-2 by the French pair of Clara Burel and Hugo Gaston.