Doubles is not a sideshow: Yuki Bhambri on re-invention and right support
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja overcame a wobbly start to put up a good fight but eventually lost the semifinals of the $125,000 ATP Challenger tournament to Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith in Kunming.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja had to be content with a runners-up finish at the ATP Challenger event in Leon as they lost the summit clash in straight sets to Chris Guccione and Matt Reid.
The third seeded Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made it to the quarter-finals in the ATP Challenger event in Furth, Germany, after a hard-earned victory in the opening round. Left-handed Divij and Raja defeated Andrej Martin of Slovak Republic and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 in the first round of the euro 30,000 clay-court event.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja squandered a superb start and bowed out of the ATP Challenger in Furth, Germany, after losing to local favourites Kevin Krawietz and Dominic Schulz 5-7, 3-6 in the quarter-finals.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja staged a spectacular comeback to shock third seeds Rajeev Ram and Benjamin Becker and storm into the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday. The unseeded Indian pair beat the American-German combo 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 in 70 minutes.
Leander Paes and Purav Raja, who are trying to establish as a pair on the ATP World Tour, progressed to the quarterfinals of the St Petersburg Open with a straight-set win over Fabio Fognini and James Cerretani.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja came from behind to win the first round and then got a walk over to progress to the semi-final of the $125,000 ATP Challenger tournament in Kunming.
The Indo-French pair was staring down the barrel, trailing by two sets but put the match on even keel before eventually going down 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 9-11 in three hours and 37 minutes on court number six.
As the results of last year's AITA elections stay unannounced, the rival factions in the national tennis federation have picked separate team managers for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Switzerland, leading to an ego tussle between the members.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja shocked top seeds Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler in straight sets to earn a shot at their second ATP Challenger title of the season, in Leon, Mexico.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made a confident start at the ATP Challenger event in Guadalajara, defeating Marco Chiudinelli and Yuichi Sugita in straight sets. The unseeded Indian pair, runners-up last week at Leon, beat the Swiss-Japanese combo 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the US $100,000 hard court tournament.
The fast rising Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja came from a set down to win their first title ATP Challenger title of the season as the top seeded Indians tamed Miachel Venus and Sanchai Ratiwatana via Super tie-breaker in the summit clash of the All Japan Indoor Championships, in Kyoto on Saturday.
India's doubles great Leander Paes has had 119 playing partners in his 27-year career and it appears his latest union could be a profitable one after he and compatriot Purav Raja knocked out former champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares on Saturday.
Unseeded Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan entered the second round of the men's doubles event at Wimbledon with a hard-earned four-set victory over British-Portuguese pair of Kyle Edmund and Joao Sousa in London.
India's Divij Sharan and Purav Raja's campaign, at the Guadalajara ATP Challenger event in Mexico, ended with a straight set semi-final defeat at the hands of giant-killing pair of Marin Draganja and Mate Pavic.
Third seeds Raja and Sharan got the better of second seeds Paes and Lipsky 6-2, 6-3 in a lop-sided semi-final.
Leander Paes and Purav Raja were no match for Colombia's Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the pre-quarter-finals of the men's doubles at the Australian Open on Sunday. The unseeded Indians were beaten 1-6, 2-6 by their 11th seeded opponents in 69 minutes.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
The fast rising Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja clinched its first ever ATP tour level title with a hard-fought win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Igor Sijsling in the summit clash of the Claro Open, in Bogota.
Ramkumar Ramanthan played his heart out before losing a tight second round singles match while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan bowed out of the men's doubles in the first round of the qualifiers at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja won their first title of the 2017 season and maiden on the clay courts by lifting the Bordeaux Challenger trophy.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja had to be content with yet another runners-up finish after losing the title clash of the ATP Soweto Open to Prakash Amritraj and Rajeev Ram in Johannesburg.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja will make their first ever appearance at a Grand Slam as the Indian duo qualified for the Wimbledon men's doubles event.
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.
The Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja entered the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough (UK) with a convincing straight sets win over Niels Desein of Belgium and Peter Torebko of Germany. The fourth seeded Indians broke early in both the sets for a 6-3, 6-3 quarter-finals win in the Euro 42,500 hard-court tournament.
The wildcard duo of Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja lost to the Kuwaiti-Ukrainian pair of Mohammed Ghareeb and Ilia Marchenko in the last four of the ATP Challenger in Delhi.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Andre Sa progressed to the Estoril Open quarter-finals and also joining them in the last-eight pairs were Divij Sharan and Purav Raja.
Indian players made a positive start at the ATP Nottingham Challenger event as Somdev Devvarman recorded victory in singles while Divij Sharan and Purav Raja advanced to the doubles quarter-finals in Nottingham.
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A second title of the season eluded Divij Sharan and Purav Raja yet again as they ended runners-up at the Nottingham Challenger after losing the tough summit clash to formidable Thai twin brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.
India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday defended the selection of N Sriram Balaji ahead of higher-ranked Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja for the tie against Serbia.
Rohan Bopanna's campaign in the ATP Challenger series tournament in Tashkent ended with a quarter-final defeat in the doubles, at the US $125,000 event, at the Olympic Tennis School. Bopanna and his partner Purav Raja put up a brave fight before losing 6-7(4) 6-3 to the top seeded pair of Oliver Marach of Austria and Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja had to be content with a runners-up finish at the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough, UK, after losing the title clash in straight sets to James Cerretani of the USA and Adil Shamasdin of Canada.
Bringing in his wealth of experience, Leander Paes combined with debutant Purav Raja to keep India afloat by winning the do-or-die doubles rubber against Korea on Saturday, but it will take a super heroic effort to save the hosts from a defeat in the Davis Cup tie.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja frittered away a two-set lead to spoil their Grand Slam debut as they bowed out of men's doubles event of the Wimbledon after losing a marathon opening round match.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
India's fast growing doubles player Divij Sharan earned himself a chance to win his third title of the year by reaching the summit clash of the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough, UK, with compatriot Purav Raja.
Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja advanced to the doubles second round of the USD 10,000 ITF tennis event after registering a comfortable straight sets victory at the CLTA stadium on Monday. The third-seeded pair beat Vijayant Malik and Yannick Nelord 6-4, 6-2 in the first round match.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja suffered their second successive first round defeat as they bowed out of the St. Petersburg Open after a 6-7(6), 4-6 defeat against Russians Victor Baluda and Konstantin Kravchuk.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja moved within a victory from qualifying for the Wimbledon men's doubles event after recording a comfortable straight sets win in London.
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