Michael Venus and his Australian partner John Peers are through to the doubles quarter finals at the Rome Masters, after beating the Australian Open champions in the second round on Friday.
Venus and Peers have knocked off third-seeded Croatian Ivan Dodig and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek 6-1 7-6 (2) in just over 80 minutes.
The performance and result are encouraging for the Antipodean duo, who were playing only their third match together since the Australian Open in February. Venus took a break to head home for the birth of his second child.
The pair advances to face Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Romanian Horia Tecau for a place in the semi-finals for the second straight year. Venus has also made the final in Rome with his former doubles partner Raven Klassen.
Meanwhile, Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald have pushed second-seeded Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic to two tie breaker sets, before losing in their second-round encounter.
Daniell and Oswald started well, taking an early 4-1 lead in the first set. But Mektic and Pavic - the stand-out team of 2021 - fought back to win 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2).
Mektic and Pavic have won ATP Masters1000 titles in Monte Carlo and Miami this year and reached the final last week in Madrid, on top of their recent win at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai.
