Michael Venus & Nikola Mektic No. 1 seeds in Doubles

Michael Venus broke his six year drought at the ASB Classic on Monday night and joked afterwards that he teamed up with the winner of the last two doubles tournaments in Auckland just to do so.

Venus and his new partner Nikola Mektic from Croatia are the No 1 seeds this week and they got their campaign off to a good start with an impressive 6-3 6-4 win over Santiago Gonzalez from Mexico and Austria’s Lucas Miedler.

Venus and Mektic got a break of serve in each set, while stayed solid on their own service games, to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

The win ended a surprisingly long run since Venus last won a match at the Classic, with the last time being in the semifinals in 2019, when he and Raven Klaasen defeated Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4 6-1. Although as Venus pointed out the ASB Classic wasn’t held in 2021 and 2022. 

“Can we log that there were a few cancelled because of Covid!” Venus laughed. 

“When you play at home, it's obviously a tournament you want to do well at because there's friends and family here. So it's always one where you like to do well. “Unfortunately, in the last few years haven’t, so I just went and recruited the guy who won in the last two years, and thought that might give me some more chances to get some win!”

Venus and Mektic started their partnership in Brisbane last weekend, where they had a memorable win over Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic and Mektic said they’ve gelled together quickly.

“The energy was very good,” Mektic said of the win on Monday night.

“We've been talking a lot, working a lot and I think the feeling on court was already very good in the first week, and now it's getting better. So very happy with it.”

On Tuesday night Marcus Daniell returns to Centre Court, where he’ll partner with James Watt for a match against Roberto Carballes Baena from Spain and Italy’s Luciano Darderi.

This is Daniell’s final tournament and there will be a special presentation after whatever turns out to be his last match.

Venus has shared many special moments with Daniell over the years and paid tribute to the player he won a bronze medal at the Olympics with in 2021.

“We travelled to some Futures together and roomed together,” Venus said. 

“We won some futures titles and we won the bronze medal, which would definitely be the highlight. 

“I've known him for so long and it was awesome to see all the things he achieved. 

“I know he's super excited for the next chapter and they've got a little boy now (Rowan). Both him and Caro, they look so happy, so I'm just really excited for them.”