ATP doubles title number 14 for Michael Venus

New Zealand’s top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and his Australian partner John Peers have won their fourth title together at the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva.

The second seeds have beaten Italian Simone Bolelli and Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour 16 in the final.

"I didn't know we had a 4-0 record in finals.” Venus said. “It shows that when we're confident and playing well good things happen. Hopefully, we can use this confidence going forwards."

Venus and Peers have quickly gelled again after a two-month break following the Australian Open when Venus was home with wife Sally giving birth to the couple’s second daughter last month.  After a first round loss at the Madrid Masters, they reached the semi finals at the Rome Masters last week. They are projected to climb from 18^th to 13^th in the Doubles race to qualify for the ATP Tour Finals in Turin at the end of the season. The top eight teams qualify for the elite tournament which Venus and Peers played together last year in London. Venus will rise one place to 15th in the individual doubles rankings.

Peers and Venus captured three trophies in 2020, in Dubai, Hamburg and Antwerp and having hit top form on clay will head into the French Open starting next Sunday night with plenty of confidence.

First though the Kiwi is heading to Parma in Italy for a new ATP tournament and is teaming up with another Aussie, Matt Reid. That’s because Peers is heading to London to get his Covid-19 vaccination.

Venus and Reid have been drawn against American’s Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow in the first round.

Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Phillip Oswald are also in the draw in Parma and face Bolelli and Gonzalez, the runner’s up to Venus and Peers in Geneva.