4 Jul 2015

Venus reaches 3rd round

1:17 pm on 4 July 2015

The New Zealander Michael Venus has reached the third round of the doubles at Wimbledon with his Croatian partner Mate Pavic.

The New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus

The New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Venus and Pavic won a dramatic five-set match in the second round, beating the 14th-seeded South African/American pair of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 7-6 6-4 3-6 6-7 11-9 in three hours and 46 minutes on court seven in front of an enthralled crowd.

It is likely they will play the top seeds and world record holder of Grand Slam doubles titles, the Bryan brothers from the United States, Bob and Mike in the third round.

They become the second doubles pair featuring a New Zealander to reach the third round at Wimbledon.

Earlier, Marcus Daniell and Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner received a walkover in their second round match over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, and they now play Israel's Jan Erlich and Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the third round.

Another national Davis Cup player, Artem Sitak, had a straight sets win in the opening round of the mixed doubles with his Australian partner, Anastasia Rodionova.

Sitak is into the second round of the men's doubles with American Nicholas Monroe.