Tennis: Kiwi Michael Venus to come up against Andy Murray in doubles matchup in Washington

Michael Venus celebrates. Photo / Photosport

Venus and Klaasen set up a quarter-final against the Murray brothers in the ATP tournament at Washington DC.

New Zealand's top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and South African partner Raven Klaasen have made a start to their North American hardcourt campaign and will next face Andy and Jamie Murray for a place in the semifinals.

The third seeds have beaten the French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany, 6-3 3-6, 10-7 in the match tie break to reach the quarter finals at the ATP 500 tournament in Washington DC.

Venus and Klaasen led 8-3 in the match tie break before the Kiwi double faulted to hand the German pair a lifeline. They got back to 8-7 before Klaasen won his next two service points to secure the win in 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Andy Murray is teaming up with his brother Jamie as he continues his comeback from hip surgery. The British brothers had a straight sets win over the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

It was an important win for Venus and Klaasen who are right in the mix to qualify for the season ending ATP World Tour Finals in London for the second straight year together.

Venus and Klaasen fresh from reaching the semi finals at Wimbledon are fourth in the race to London with the top eight teams after the Paris Masters in November qualifying for the lucrative tournament.

Meanwhile Artem Sitak and Moldovan partner Radu Albot have been thumped 6-1 6-1 by third seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi in the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Los Cabos in Mexico. And it's also been a tough day for Erin Routliffe and her American partner Sabrina Santamaria at the WTA Premier tournament in San Jose California. They've lost 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 to Australian Ellen Perez and Britain's Heather Watson.