New Zealand's Michael Venus and German partner Tim Puetz have made a strong start to the Australian Open, beating Americans Nick Monroe and Frances Tiafoe 6-1 7-6 (3) in their opening match.
Sixth-seeded Venus and Puetz raced out to an early lead, and capitalised with an emphatic opening-set win.
The Americans bounced back in the second set to force a tiebreak, but Venus and Puetz held their nerve to close out the match.
Earlier, Kiwi Erin Routliffe and Canadian doubles partner Leylah Fernandez were swept aside in straight sets by Australians Lizette Cabrera and Priscilla Ho in their opening tie.
After reaching the third round at the US Open in September, Routliffe and Fernandez held high hopes of advancing deep into the tournament, but were outclassed by the Aussie wildcards, who needed less than an hour to win 6-3 6-1.
On Thursday, Kiwis Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak square off against each other in the men's doubles, with Daniell and Danish partner Freddie Nielsen playing Sitak and Russian partner Aslan Karatsev.
