Venus, Mektic lose tight semifinal in Miami

Michael Venus and his Croatian partner Nikola Mektic have bowed out of the Miami Open at the semifinal stage.

In their quarterfinal match against the tournament’s top seeds, Marcelo Arevalo from El Salvador and fellow Croatian Mate Pavic, Venus and Mektic lost a close battle 2-6 7-6(4) 10-5 in a battle that went for just over an hour and a half.

Venus and Mektic broke their opponents twice as they dominated the opening set. Arevalo and Pavic found their rhythm in the second set, which contained no breaks of serve.

Venus and Mektic jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held a 4-2 advantage at the change of ends. But Arevalo and Pavic won the next five points to level the match.

The teams were locked at 4-4 in the super tiebreak, but again the top seeds went on a run to win five of the next six points.

Although Venus and Mektic would have loved to have made it to the final, it’s been a strong Miami tournament for the duo as they played some of their best tennis together this year during it.

Their run in Florida should give them confidence as they head to Europe for the start of the clay court season and build up to Roland Garros, which Venus famously won with Ryan Harrison in 2017.

Venus is expected to stay at No 14 in the world rankings, unless Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash win the final in Miami. If that happens, Venus would drop to No 16.