Tennis: Kiwi Venus in Aussie Open upset

Michael Venus' run at the Australian Open continues after the Kiwi and his Indian tennis partner Yuki Bhambri upset 10th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Romania's Horia Tecau 6-4 6-4 in Melbourne this afternoon.

By winning their first-round match, Venus had become the first New Zealand male to make the second round of the Australian Open in either singles or doubles since Brett Steven reached the doubles quarter-finals in Melbourne in 1998 with American Pat Galbraith.

Venus and Bhambri, who received a wildcard entry by winning the Asia-Oceania playoff, converted both break-point opportunities they had against their more fancied opponents today and didn't face a break point on their own serve.

They will have a wait to discover the identity of their third-round opponents with a number of first-round matches still to be played. They might expect to face either fourth seeds Ivan Doig (Croatia) and Marcelo Melo (Brazil) or fifth seeds Leander Paes (India) and Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic).

 

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