New Zealander Michael Venus and South African partner Raven Klaasen fallen short of their first ATP Masters 1000 doubles title, beaten in the Toronto final by second seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
NZ tennis doubles player Michael Venus Photo: © Actionplus 2018
Kontinen (Finland) and Australian Peers edged Venus and Klaasen 6-2 6-7 10-6, battling back after missing out on four championship points in the second-set tie-break.
It was still a good weekend for Venus and Klaasen, who picked up valuable points in the ATP Doubles Race To London, the year-ending climax to the ATP World Tour season which features only the world's best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams.
Venus and Klaasen, who currently sit fifth, have won four titles on the ATP World Tour this year, including the Australian Open. They also reached the Wimbledon final and the Washington ATP 500 semis.
They have improved their win loss record to 32 and 16 since forming their partnership at the start of the season.
Individually Venus is projected to climb two places to 17 in the world doubles rankings by making the final.
Meanwhile the draw is out for next week's Cincinnati Masters with Venus and Klaasen pitted against French singles players Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino in the first round.
Fellow Kiwi Artem Sitak teaming up with Greek singles star Stefanos Tsitsipas have been drawn against Croatian Ivan Dodig and Dutchman Robin Haase.
-RNZ
