Tennis: Kiwi Artem Sitak and partner Wesley Koolhof through to semi-finals at the New York Open

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have battled through to the semi-finals at the ATP 250 tournament, the New York Open.

The pair have beaten the French pair of Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

In a match played on centre court at the inaugural ATP event held on Long Island, Sitak and Koolhof made an impressive start. They broke early in the opening set and held serve comfortably throughout.

In contrast, the second set featured five breaks of serve and from 3-2 up with a break Sitak and Koolhof lost the next four games as their opponents leveled the match to force a deciding match tie break.

At 4-4 Sitak and Koolhof went on a roll winning four straight points and they eventually closed it out on their second match point 10-6.

It's a strong result for the Kiwi and his Dutch partner because Chardy and Martin had eliminated the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the previous round.

The win continues an encouraging run of results since Sitak and Koolhof joined forces after Wimbledon last year. They are through to their fifth ATP Tour semi-final together and are chasing their third finals appearance as a team, having finished runners up twice.

They will face Moldova's Rado Albot and Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili in tomorrow's semi-finals.

Sitak is currently ranked 59 and his results this week will push him towards the world's top 50. He reached a career high of 39 in 2015.

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