Venus/Peers Capture First Team Trophy In Dubai

In their fourth event as a pairing, John Peers and Michael Venus lifted their first team trophy at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday.

Peers and Venus needed just 59 minutes to overcome fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Oliver Marach 6-3, 6-2 saving both break points they faced in the championship match. The unseeded tandem did not drop a set en route to the trophy, which included a 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final victory against defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

“[There is] a lot of excitement. I mean, we worked hard the past few months to try to play at this level for a whole tournament. It was really good and pleasing we were able to do that together,” said Peers.

“I know we’ll take a lot of confidence with that moving forward, take a look at the areas we need to keep working on. We have got to keep improving.”

This is Peers’ 21st tour-level trophy. The Australian has won at least one trophy for eight consecutive years, dating back to his maiden ATP Tour title in Houston in 2013.

Venus adds an 11th tour-level crown to his collection. The 32-year-old has lifted a trophy in each of the six seasons since his first title run in Nice in 2015.

“[With] any new partnership, you don’t know how it’s going to go till you get out there really, until you get on the court and you start to understand exactly what your partner likes to see in certain situations, how they react to things and that, it takes time to figure those things out,” said Venus.

“We really spent probably the past two or three weeks sitting down, trying to go over it to try to have a better understanding. I think that really helped us.”

Klaasen and Marach were also attempting to capture their first title in their fourth event as a duo. The fourth seeds own a 6-4 record this year.

Peers and Venus gain 500 FedEx ATP Doubles Ranking points and share $181,360 in prize money. Klaasen and Marach earn 300 points and split $88,780.