Jamie Murray (L) of Great Britian and Michael Venus of New Zealand during the 2023 ASB Classic tournament. Photo: Photosport
New Zealand tennis doubles specialist Michael Venus has warmed up for the French Open in spectacular style by winning the Geneva Open alongside British doubles partner Jamie Murray.
Venus snared his 20th ATP title, with eight of them coming on clay including a strong performance this week in Switzerland.
They beat the higher-seeded Argentinian/Spanish pairing of Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers 7-6, 7-6 in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
The timing couldn't be better, with the second Grand Slam of the year startting at Paris' famed Roland-Garros courts on Monday.
"It is always good to come into a Grand Slam having won matches and feeling good but the Grand Slams do pose different challenges," he said from Paris.
"I think clay provides you with slightly more time which allows me to set up for my shots a little bit more and then I can be aggressive."
"But it does normally take me a little bit longer to get comfortable with my footing on it than others who have grown up on it."
Venus and Murray won their first clay ATP title as a team at the Srpska Open in Bosnia and Herzegovina in late April. They then made it through to the quarter finals in both Madrid and Rome.
"We have had a good little run lately and been in some tight matches and come through those, so it has given us confidence," Venus said.
It is the second time Venus has won the Geneva Open, after he and Australian partner John Peers took out the doubles title in 2021.
He and Murray have now won three ATP tour-level titles as a team, all of them this season - they also lifted the trophy at the Dallas Open in February to lift their combined ranking to ninth in the world.
- RNZ