Tennis: Artem Sitak beaten in Sao Paulo final

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak has been beaten in his second ATP doubles final in three weeks.

Sitak and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have lost 6-4 6-2 to Argentine pair, Federico Delbonis and Maximo Gonzalez in the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1 hr 12.

Sitak and Koolhof got off to slow start and were broken in their second service game and while they broke straight back, Gonzalez and Delbonis broke again to take the opening set.

It wasn't as if Sitak and Koolhof didn't have chances on the return of serve, but they managed to convert just one of eight break point chances in the match while their opponents converted four of seven.

Gonzalez and Delbonis broke at the start of the second set and never looked back, breaking again to close out a comfortable victory.

It's Sitak and Koolhof's fourth loss in ATP finals since getting together after Wimbledon last year. They finished runners-up in New York two weeks ago and in Metz and Antwerp last year.

However the 32-year-old Kiwi is expected to climb six places to 52 in the Emirates ATP rankings.

Meanwhile Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell will both be competing in the lucrative Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament which gets underway this week in California.

16th ranked Venus is teaming up with his regular doubles partner South African Raven Klaasen while 36th ranked Daniell has teamed up with world number 18 in singles, Argentine Diego Schwartzman.