Venus and Murray suffer shock loss in Rome

Michael Venus and British partner Jamie Murray have ended their run of three tournaments together with a disappointing first round defeat at the Italian Open in Rome. The 6^th seeds have been beaten 6-7 (2) 6-3 10-5 in an hour and 46 minutes by Uruguay’s Ariel Behar and Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar.

Venus and Murray will be disappointed they couldn’t build on back-to-back semi-final runs at Estoril and Madrid on the clay. Venus and Murray will now part company with the Kiwi to team up with his regular partner Germany’s Tim Puetz at Roland Garros which starts on Sunday week.

Venus and Puetz were hoping to play the Geneva clay court event together but Puetz isn’t quite 100 percent after suffering an ankle injury at the Monte Carlo Masters last month.

Venus will now head back to London for a few days before heading to Paris to link up with Puetz who has assured him he will be fine to play the French Open.