Tennis: Michael Venus advances to ATP Finals semis

Michael Venus of New Zealand and Ryan Harrison of The United States in action. Photo / Getty

Michael Venus is starting to believe he and American partner Ryan Harrison can win the prestigious ATP Finals in London.

The French Open champions have become the first team to qualify for the semi finals after beating the 6th seeded French pair of Pierre Hugues-Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-7 (7-4) 6-4, 10-5 for their second straight round robin win.

Venus and Harrison have eliminated winless US Open champions Jean Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau who they meet in their final group match on Friday morning.

The Kiwi sees no reason to stop at the semi finals.

"Ryan and I have practiced with each other for so long now and both have a lot of belief in how each other play and what level we can play at. When we are both playing well we have confidence no matter who we are playing, so to be able to play like we are on a stage like this at the end of the year is a great way to finish it." Venus said.

Venus and Harrison continued on from their stunning performance against defending Henri Kontinen and John Peers in their opening match on Monday morning, but had to recover from a slow start.

Venus lost his opening service game with the French pair returning serve well and creating opportunities with Mahut particularly lethal at the net.

However the Kiwi/American pair fought back to break Herbert's serve in the 6th game and were two points from the first set at 5-4. But the set went to a tie breaker and after going 3-0 up early; Mahut and Hugues Herbert closed it out 7-4 with the set taking 53 minutes.

The French pair had won a tight semi final against Venus and Harrison at the Cincinnati Masters in August and this was again a very close match.

Venus and Harrison returned well throughout and created a break point opportunity on Herbert's first service game in the second set and Venus put away a volley to take the early ascendency.

At 3-2 Harrison fought back from 0-40 to hold, saving four break points. They went on to close out the second set in 39 minutes.

The match went to a deciding Super tie break with Venus and Harrison converting on their third match point for a memorable victory in one hour and 40 minutes.

"We took care of our serves really well and also returned well and got into a lot of service games. They both have great serves and normally roll through their games quickly. So we were able to put pressure on them which helped us roll through our games a bit easier." Venus said.

Venus and Harrison received US$94,000 for participating in the tournament plus $36,000 for each round robin match win. If they go through the tournament unbeaten they will share US$486,000.

"Every match is a great opportunity for us and the money is a bit of a bonus and the points also. So we just try and focus on the things we are doing and hopefully we can keep getting better." Venus said.

Earlier third seeds Rojer and Tecau lost their second straight match, 7-6, 7-6 to 2nd seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers who face a shootout on Friday morning against Hugues-Herbert and Mahut for the other semi final position in the group.