Four Kiwis in US Open

Michael Venus and Mate Pavic at this year's ASB Classic. Photo: Getty Images
Michael Venus and Mate Pavic at this year's ASB Classic. Photo: Getty Images
New Zealand will have players in four doubles pairs in the 2016 US Open, which starts this week.

Michael Venus teams up with regular partner Mate Pavic (Croatia) and comes up against Julio Peralta (Chile) and Argentine Horacio Zeballos in the first round.

Venus and Pavic have won four ATP titles this year and been finalists twice. Last week they reached the semifinals at the Winston Salem tournament.

Artem Sitak combines with Dutch player Robin Haase and takes on Americans Denis Kudla and Dennis Novikov in a winnable match, however it is likely they would clash with the top seeds, Frenchman Paul Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the second round.

Marcus Daniell partners American Brian Baker and they play Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) and Hans Podlipnik Castillo (Chile) in their first round match.

All of the Kiwi men's teams are in the top half of the draw and all would be likely to face seeded teams if they win they win their opening matches.

Marina Erakovic is combining with Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja who has been a regular partner in the past. They won the Hertogenbosch title in 2014 and were finalist at New Haven the same year. They play Aleksandra Krunic (Croatia) and Andrea Mitu (Romania) in their opening clash.

Erakovic had a best doubles performance at the US Open in 2008 where she teamed with Jelena Kostanic to make the quarterfinals.

It's likely that some of the doubles matches will be played on Wednesday.

Add a Comment