Venus and Puetz stun world's top team to win ATP title in Dubai
New Zealand’s top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz are the champions at the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai.
The fourth seeds have beaten top seeds and the world’s number one ranked pair Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic in an epic final 6-3, 6-7 (3) 16-14 in an hour and 56 minutes.
It’s the first win over the Croatians for Venus and Puetz who lost to them in their only previous meeting in Vienna last year. Pavic and Mektic are the reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champions and have been the dominant pair in men’s tennis over the past year.
But Venus who was the defending Dubai champion, having won the title last year with his former partner Australian John Peers, clearly loves the courts in the UAE.
Venus and Puetz who had come back from losing the first set in their three previous matches at the tournament, had started superbly, breaking serve twice enroute to the opening set.
They served superbly throughout and only faced one break point in the match which was decided in a match tie break. Venus and Puetz saved three match points before converting on their fourth match point when the Kiwi put away a forehand volley. The match was so close, with the Croatians winning 79 points to Venus and Paetz’s 78.
Venus and Puetz have now won three ATP doubles titles together since joining forces after last year’s French Open and it’s the second title for the Kiwi in Dubai after winning the tournament with
It’s Venus’s 17th ATP doubles title and the world number 14 and Puetz will climb to 7th in the race to qualify among the top eight teams for the ATP Finals in Turin in November.
Venus now heads to Las Vegas to meet up with the New Zealand Davis Cup team ahead of next weekend’s World Group 1 qualifying tie against Uruguay.
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