Venus and Puetz impress in first round win at the Australian Open

New Zealand's Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz have made a strong start to the Australian Open in Melbourne. The sixth seeds have beaten American's Nick Monroe and Frances Tiafoe 6-1 7-6 (3) in their opening match.

Venus and Puetz who finished last season by winning the Paris Masters in November, got off to a flying start, racing to a 5-0 first set lead before Tiafoe held for the first time in the match. But Puetz served out the set.

As the score suggests the second set was much closer and Tiafoe and Monroe had opportunities to break Puetz when they were leading 3-2 with the German at 15-40 but he recovered and held before Venus and Puetz broke Tiafoe for a 5-4 lead.

But Puetz couldn't close out the match and was broken with  it eventually decided in a tie break with the seeded pair prevailing comfortably and completing the win in 1 hour 21 minutes. They will face Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena and Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the second round.

Earlier New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and her Canadian doubles partner Leylah Fernandez were swept aside in straight sets by their Australian opponents in their first-round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne. 

Routliffe and Fernandez had high hopes of a god run after reaching the third round at the US Open together last September. But they were outclassed on the day by Australian wildcards Lizette Cabrera and Priscilla Hon who won 6-3 6-1 in 59 minutes. 

Fernandez who reached the US Open singles final last year, couldn’t hold serve in the first set as the Australian pair took control and converted three of their five break point chances. Routliffe and Fernandez took just one of five chances to break. 

It was more of the same in the second set as first Fernandez then Routliffe were broken as Hon and Fernandez shot out to a 4-0 lead. Fernandez finally held serve but it was too little too late and Routliffe was broken for the second time to lose the match. Routliffe will now turn her attention to the mixed doubles where she will partner Michael Venus in the first round tomorrow against Cabrera again and her partner Aussie Alex Bolt.

Kiwis Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak square off against each other in the men's doubles with Daniell and his Danis partner Freddie Nielsen playing Sitak and his Russian partner Aslan Karatsev.