The New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen have been eliminated from the doubles competition at the ATP Finals in London.
The sixth seeds have been beaten 6-3 7-6 (5)by the second seeded Colombian pair of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in 1 hour 24.
Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The defeat ends Venus and Klaasen's impressive first season together in which they reached the Wimbledon final, won one title in Marseille in February, but reached three other finals including their first ATP Masters 1000 final together in Toronto.
Venus and Klaasen got off to the worst possible start today after Venus held serve, Klaasen was broken in his opening service game and the Colombians served impeccably in the first set, dropping just three points on serve. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5 Venus was broken and Farah and Cabal clinched the opener 6-3.
Venus and Klaasen who had beaten their opponents twice this year, hit back at the start of the second set with an early break. But the Kiwi served a poor game when leading 3-2 and double faulted to hand the break back. The set and match was decided in a tie break which Farah and Cabal clinched 7-5 on their fourth match point to secure their place in the semi finals along with Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares from their group.
Venus and Klaasen earned a share of 146 thousand dollars just for qualifying for the ATP Finals and they got another 56 thousand for their win in their second group match.
The Kiwi ends his season with around 870 thousand dollars in prize money and is ranked 12th in the ATP doubles rankings, one place behind his partner.
Venus and Klaasen have confirmed they will continue their partnership in 2019 and will again be in action at Auckland's ASB Classic in January.
