Tennis: Artem Sitak advances to doubles second round in Estoril

Artem Sitak. Photo / Nick Reed

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak has completed a big comeback to win through to the second round at the ATP tennis tournament in Estoril.

Sitak and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have knocked out the third seeds, Spaniard's Marc Lopez and David Marrero 6-7, (5) 6-4 10-3 in 1 hr35.

After losing a tight opening set in a tie breaker, Sitak and Koolhof were broken early and trailed 4-1 in the second set before staging a dramatic comeback.

Sitak is relieved to have come through a tight battle.

"We had chances but lost very closely in the first, went down 4-1 in the second but we knew that we can come back, just because our level was high throughout the whole match." Sitak said.

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Winning five straight games to take the second set gave Sitak and Koolhof the confidence to dominate the match tie break.

"We did that with some very aggressive returns and net play. We were on the high going into the super breaker and kept that confidence."

Sitak and Koolhof will face the Portuguese wildcard pairing of Gastao Elias and Pedro Sousa in the quarter finals.