Tennis: Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof bow out of French Open

Marcus Daniell. Photo / AP

Marcus Daniell believes he and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof can do some real damage on the grass after bowing out of the French Open in the second round overnight.

Daniell and Koolhof lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour 51 minutes to the world's number one ranked team, Poland's Lukasz Kubot and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo.

Daniell felt after winning the first set, they should have capitalized on chances at the start of the second.

"It was a really close match, we were on top for the first half and had a chance to run away with the match early in the second and they just held on, and when they got their nose in front they were pretty good front runners." Daniell said.

The fact that Daniell believes they should have closed out the match gives him confidence that he and Koolhof can achieve some top results on his favourite surface grass over the next month or so.

"These are the matches you have to win and these are the matches that the top teams win more consistently which is why they are the top teams. We had the level today to beat the top team in the tournament and we didn't do it." We will learn the lessons from today and try to do better at Wimbledon." Daniell said.

This morning's match saw Daniell and Koolhof break Melo in the 10th game to take the opening set 6-4. They then had Kubot under pressure in his first service game in the second set but couldn't get the break.

That was as close as they got as the Kiwi was then broken to love and despite facing break points Kubot and Melo were able to clinch the second set 6-2 and break Koolhof's serve in the decider before going on to secure a hard fought victory.

Daniell now turns his attention to the grass where he is considering playing in a Challenger tournament in Surbiton next week, before reuniting with Koolhof for the ATP 250 event in s-Hertgotenbosch in the Netherlands.

"I am really looking forward to it, last year I wasn't healthy for the grass court season really, so being healthy it is my favourite time of the year. We are playing well and had our chances against one of the top teams in the world and we had our chances, grass is my favourite surface so I feel we will have some opportunities to do some big things over the next four weeks."

"There is no reason why he can't win a couple of tournaments on the grass."

Daniell's ranking is expected to climb to just outside the top 50 following the French Open with Koolhof ranked around 25. They will play either the Queens Club tournament in London or the Halle tournament in Germany prior to Wimbledon where they have no rankings points to defend following a first round loss last year.

Matt Brown is in Paris thanks to Emirates Airline