Venus and Puetz lose a tight final in Stuttgart

Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz have lost for the first time in an ATP final together.

The top seeds have been beaten in a tight final at the ATP 250 tournament in Stuttgart by third seeds Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic.

Venus was chasing his 18^th Tour title but it wasn’t to be as Hurkacz and Pavic prevailed in two tie breaks 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) in an hour and 27 minutes.

Venus and Puetz had won their three previous finals together but Pavic has been ranked at the very top of the men’s doubles game and Hurkacz has enjoyed some very good results this year.

There were no break point chances as the first set went to a tie break which Hurkacz and Pavic dominated.

The second set was also tight with just the one break point against Puetz which he saved and it was onto another tie break.

This one was closer with a double fault by the German the only dropped point on serve and it proved the difference.

Venus and Puetz have climbed three sports to 10^th in the ATP doubles race to Turin where the top eight teams at the end of the season play at the Tour finals.

Venus and Puetz now head to for the ATP 500 tournament there. They are the third seeds and have been drawn against Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop in the first round.

Erin Routliffe is back in action this week with her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin. They have drawn second seeds Canadian Gaby Dabrowski and Mexican Giuliana Olmos in the first round.