Venus, Mektic beaten in London ATP final
- Dave Worsley
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Michael Venus and Croatian partner Nikola Mektic have been beaten in a tight final at the Queen's tournament in London in three sets.
They lost to the British pair of Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool 6-3 6-7(5) 10-6 in just under an hour and a half.
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The result means the seven match winning streak of Venus at the tournament comes to an end after he won the title last year.
There wer a number of break points in the first set helping the Brits take the initiiative in the eighth game in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
Mektic dropped serve again at 1-1, missing a volley on break point to give Cash and Glasspool a crucial lead. With momentum firmly with the Brits, Venus and Mektic were staring at a straight-sets defeat on a surface where comebacks can be hard.
However they found a way to fight back immediately breaking Cash’s serve to level the set, showing the sort of grit that has made Venus and Mektic mainstays at the business end of ATP doubles tournaments.
In the tiebreak, they led 4-2 at the change of ends, and Venus then drilled a stunning return winner off a Cash serve to edge further ahead. That point proved decisive as they held their nerve to force a super tiebreak.
Cash and Glasspool made the stronger start, leading 4-2 at the first change of ends and 7-5 at the next to then gon on and take the tiebreak for the loss of just one more point.
