SA’s Raven Klaasen loses in second round at Australian Open

The ninth-seeded pair of South African Raven Klaasen and his new Austrian doubles partner Oliver Marach were eliminated from the Australian Open in the second-round stage on Friday.

Klaasen and Marach lost their men’s doubles match to the unseeded pairing of Argentine Andres Molteni and Monegasque partner, Hugo Nys 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4.

Klaasen’s best finish at the first Grand Slam of the year is a runner’s up spot, with partner American Eric Butorac in 2014.

The 37-year-old was South Africa’s last hope at Melbourne Park after men’s singles players Kevin Anderson and Lloyd Harris lost earlier this week.

Anderson bowed out of the tournament after a second-round 4-6 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-2 6-2 defeat to American 29th-seeded Taylor Fritz on Thursday, meanwhile Harris lost to Argentine 14th-seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round.

Kgothatso Montjane will fly the South African flag at the wheelchair tennis Australian Open which gets starts on Wednesday, until February 1 at Melbourne Park.

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo