South African tennis ace Raven Klaasen and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach suffered a surprise second round defeat at the Western & Southern Open on Monday.

The Masters 1000 event, played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York, is a precursor for the US Open.

Klaasen and Marach, who were the seventh seeds, lost 6-3, 6-4 to the unseeded duo of Romanian Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.

Klaasen was the last South African standing in the event after Kevin Anderson and Lloyd Harris suffered respective second and first round defeats in the men's singles.

Anderson, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, lost 6-1, 6-3 to fourth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, while world No 97 Harris lost by the same scoreline to American world No 24 Taylor Fritz.

Up next for the South African stars is the US Open which gets underway at the same venue on 31 August.

The Western & Southern Open, traditionally played in Cincinnati, is being held behind closed doors due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

- Compiled by Sport24 staff