Michael Venus, Neal Skupski march into third round at US Open

Michael Venus and Neal Skupski are into the third round of the men’s doubles at the US Open following their 7-6(4) 6-4 win over Guido Andreozzi from Argentina and India’s Sriram Balaji.

It took one hour, and 37 minutes for the New Zealander and Brit on Friday (Saturday NZ time) to secure this win on Court 5 and it was a solid performance from the tournament’s No 8 seeds.

There was only one break point in the opening set, which Venus and Skupski defended.

Balaji double-faulted at 1-1 in the tiebreak and missed with a low to ball him at 4-6 to give the first set to Venus and Skupski.

The Kiwi/British team had six break points in the early stages of the next set but weren’t able to convert any of them. 

But with Bali serving at 3-3, Venus and Skupski finally got the break they needed, with Balaji missing with a smash on break point.

Venus served out the next game and two games later Skupski hit a winner on match point to clinch the victory.

Venus has had less success at the US Open than the other majors, with this being the third time he’s made it past the second round since he first played at the New York Grand Slam in 2024.

In the third round, Venus and Skupski will play against the winners of the match between Julian Cash and Robert Galloway versus Tristan Boyer and Emilio Nava.