Tennis: Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak return to the ATP World Tour in Morocco

Marcus Daniell. Photo / Nick Reed

Kiwi doubles players Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak return to ATP world tour action in Marrakech, Morocco overnight.

Daniell had a week off after the Miami Open, training with his British doubles partner Dominic Inglot at his base in Barcelona.

The world number 35 has no points to defend this week after losing in the first round in Marrakech last year. Daniell and Inglot are seeded 3rd and take on the Chilean Belarussian duo of Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski in the first round.

"It's been a good transition from the hard court to clay," Daniell said. "We had a great week in Barcelona, one of the homes of clay courts around the world and spent a lot of time hitting a lot of balls."

"We have played our opponents twice before, in our first tournament in Basel last year and also in the third round of the Australian Open. They are a dangerous team and their game suits playing on the clay. But in saying that Dom plays well here in Marrakech and is defending the title here from last year."

While Daniell and Inglot have set no specific plans for the clay court season, they have targeted a spot in the ATP World Tour finals at the end of the season so will need some top results on the clay over the next two months to boost their chances.

Sitak and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof are playing their first ATP World Tour event since reaching the final of the Sao Paulo Open together at the beginning of last month.

However they've been performing well on the Challenger tour and transitioned to the clay by winning the Challenger tournament in Alicante in Spain last week. Their four match wins put them in good shape for their first round encounter against Indian Divij Sharan and German Jan-Leonard Struff overnight.

New Zealand's top ranked doubles player, world number 16 Michael Venus is taking another week off, instead training in London ahead of his first trip to the prestigious Monte Carlo Masters with South African partner Raven Klaasen next week.