Wins for Venus, Routliffe in Cincy

Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe picked up wins with their respective partners at the prestigious Cincinnati Open on Thursday (Friday NZ time).

Venus and Britain’s Neal Skupski defeated Santiago Gonzalez from Mexico and the Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3 2-6 10-4 in their second-round match, to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP 1000 tournament.

In the women’s doubles Routliffe and America’s Asia Muhammad beat Wang Yafan from China and Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 7-6(2) 7-6(4).

Routliffe and Muhammad, who is filling in for Gaby Dabrowski as Routliffe’s partner this week, had to save a set point in the opening set and they were only able to convert two of the nine break point opportunities they had.

However, they were able to step up in each of the tiebreaks to make it through to the next round, where they will play the No 7 seeds Luisa Stefani from Brazil and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs. 

For Venus and Skupski, who have been one of the most consistent teams in the world since teaming up in June, they relied heavily on the serve for their victory over Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin.

The Kiwi/Brit duo sent seven aces down during the match and only made one double fault, while they won 72% of the points on their second serve.

Venus made it to the final in Cincinnati last year with Jamie Murray, so is defending 600 points this week, however by making it to the quarterfinals, he has already recaptured 180 of those points.