Venus and Puetz through to second round in Hamburg
Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz have returned to action for the first time since their first-round defeat at Wimbledon earlier this month.
The 3rd seeds have advanced to the second round of the European Open in Hamburg, the ATP 500 tournament which they won last year.
Venus and Puetz have beaten Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Russian Aslan Karatsev 7-5 6-4 in an hour and 31 minutes.
The match was played in searing 38-degree temperatures during the heat wave that has gripped Europe,
In a tight match Venus saved a break point in his second service game in the first set and Puetz saved from 0-40 down in his second service game.
Serving to stay in the first set and force a tiebreak Karatsev was broken to give Venus and Puetz the first set in 46 minutes. The second set was similar with both Venus and Puetz put under pressure on serve but they were able to hold. Roger-Vasselin serving at 4-5 down to stay in the match was broken to love and Venus and Puetz had their hard-fought victory. They will face the unseeded German pair of Jan-Lennard Struff and Daniel Altmaier in the quarter finals.
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