Tennis: Michael Venus crashes back down to earth in Basel

Michael Venus. Photo / Photosport

From the joy of becoming a dad and qualifying for the ATP World Tour finals for the second straight year, Kiwi Michael Venus has slumped to a first round loss at the ATP tournament in Basel.

Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen were the top seeds for the ATP 500 tournament, but have lost their first round match 7-5, 5-7 10-5 to the wildcard pairing of Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Huesler and Dutchman Sam Verbeek in 1 hour 31.

Venus and Klaasen will have one more tournament, next week's Paris Masters before competing at the elite eight team tour finals at London's 02 Arena.

Meanwhile Kiwi Artem Sitak and his Indian doubles partner Divij Sharan have won a tight battle to reach the second round in Basel. They've beaten Australian Matthew Ebden and Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-7 (3) 10-7 in 1 hour 29.

Sitak and Sharan converted just one of six break point chances in the match but only faced one break point against their serve.

They will face Huesler and Verbeek in the quarterfinals.

But it's been a disappointing end to a frustrating season for Marcus Daniell at the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna. The Kiwi number 3 and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have been beaten in the first round 3-6, 7-6 (3) 10-4 in 1 hour 33 by the British pair of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.

Daniell who missed most of the clay court season with a wrist injury will end the year ranked outside the top 50 after reaching a career high of 34 after the Australian Open.