It's been a busy week for New Zealand tennis players with matches in a variety of tournaments around the world.
Michael Venus played in the ATP 1000 tournament in Rome with the Philippines Treat Huey, however they were defeated in the first round as alternates by Oliver Marach (Austria) and Mate Pavic (Croatia) 2-6 6-3 6-10.
At the 106,000 euro Bordeaux Challenger in France Artem Sitak and Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) are through to the semifinals after a win against the Argentine pair of Facundo Bagnis and Maximo Gonzalez 6-1 6-4. In the first round they had defeated Canadian Peter Polansky and Jaoa Souza (Brazil).
At the same event top seeded Kiwi Marcus Daniell and Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner won their first round match in straight sets but lost in the quarters to Jonathan Erlich (Israel) and Philipp Oswald (Austria) 3-6 6-3 5-10.
At the US$150,000 Busan Challenger in South Korea there was a first round win by Queenstown's Ben Mclachlan and Australian Steven de Waard over the experienced Dudi Sela (Israel) and Italian Thomas Fabbiano 6-1 6-2, however the Kiwi and Aussie then lost to the top seeds Sonchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana (Thailand) in the quarters 4-6 6-2 8-10.
