Venus, Mektic triumph over No 3 seeds in Doha

Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic have knocked out the No 3 seeds at the ATP 500 tournament in Doha.

Venus and Mektic defeated the German duo of Tim Puetz, a former partner of Venus, and Kevin Krawietz 6-4 6-4 in a match that lasted 70 minutes.

It was the biggest win of the year for Venus and Mektic, in terms of their opponents’ ranking and indicates how this year’s ASB Classic champions are continuing to gel as a team.

There was just one break of serve in each set by Venus and Mektic, while they didn’t have to defend any break points on their serve.

In the second round Venus and Mektic take on the all British team of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.

Meanwhile, Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun will play in their respective second round doubles matches at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai on Wednesday.

Sun and Peyton Stearns will take on top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, while Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski, who are the tournament’s second seeds, will be up against Linda Noskova from the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putinseva.