Skupski/Venus Set Klaasen/McLachlan Final In Washington

  • Posted: Aug 08, 2021

Second seeds Neal Skupski and Michael Venus cruised past #NextGenATP tandem Sebastian Korda and Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-0 to book a place in the Citi Open doubles final.

The Brit and Aussie team is making a successful debut, reaching the final in their first tournament together without dropping a set. The pair continued to dominate against Korda and Sinner, another team making its doubles debut. Skupski and Venus did not face a break point, and won 87 per cent of points (26/30) behind their first serves to win in 44 minutes. 

Earlier in the season, Skupski reached back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 finals with Daniel Evans in Miami and Monte-Carlo (l. to Mektic/Pavic both times) and lifted the trophy in Acapulco with brother Ken Skupski. Venus, who clinched the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics with Marcus Daniell last week, won two titles with two partners in 2021: Hamburg with Tim Puetz and Geneva with John Peers.

Skupski and Venus will meet fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan in the final, after the South African and Japanese duo defeated Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 7-5 in a hotly contested semi-final. 

After narrowly taking the first set, Klaasen and McLachlan raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. But after surrendering the double break to Daniell and Melo, they regrouped to edge back in front and seal the victory in an hour and 20 minutes.

Klaasen and McLachlan are seeking their first title of the year in Washington, D.C. The pair recently reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and made the semi-finals at ATP 250 events in Santiago, Estoril and Geneva. 

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