Sharan-Raja lose in doubles final at Tashkent Challenger

India's second seeds Purav Raja and Divij Sharan were upset in straight sets in the final of the Tashkent Challenger by the unseeded Russian pairing of Mikhail Elgin and Teymuraz Gabashvili, in Tashkent, on Saturday.

Elgin and Gabashvili dominated the proceedings to register an easy 6-4, 6-4 victory in just over an hour to claim the men's doubles title in the fifth edition of the $125000 Tashkent Challenger at the Olympic tennis School Tennis Complex.

Elgin and Gabashvili were in control right from the start as they broke Sharan in the fifth game of the first set before Raja was broken in the very first game of the second set to give the Russian duo their first title of the year.

The winners pocketed $7750 and 125 ATP points for their win, while the Runners-up received $4500 and 75 ATP points.

In the singles, third seeded Dudi Sela of Israel upset top seeded Lukas Lacko of Slovakia to set up a summit clash with sixth seeded Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili

In the semi-finals, Sela currently ranked 89th scored a scorching 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over No.1  Lukas Lacko ranked 81, while the Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili continued his splendid run at the event to register a 7-6(1), 6-4 win over another Israeli Amir Weintraub.

Image: Purav Raja and Divij Sharan (left) in action.

Photograph: Divij Sharan on Twitter