First round win for Venus, Mektic in Barcelona

Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic needed to dig deep for their first round win at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona, but came through as the victors over Alexandru Jecan from Romania and Austria’s David Pichier.

Venus and his Croatian partner prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 in a match lasting one hour and 18 minutes.

The tournament’s second seeds were broken twice in the opening set against Jecan and Pichier, who entered the draw as alternates, but Venus and Mektic responded by pressuring their opponents’ serve in the second set.

Even though Team Venus/Mektic double faulted twice in the super tiebreak, they came through to earn a place in the next round.

In the quarterfinals, Venus and Mektic will play against the all-British duo of Joe Salisbury and the Kiwi’s former partner, Neal Skupski.

At last year’s Barcelona Open, Venus and Skupski lost in the first round, so with few points to defend Venus has a chance to climb up the rankings with a deep run in the Spanish city this week.