Indian doubles players Divij Sharan and Purav Raja are having a gala time in their reunion after two years. The two produced a remarkable display of guts and willpower to eke out a 7-6(6), 6(5)-7, 10-7 win over the third seeds Dominic Inglot and Denis Istomin in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 Swiss Open Gstaad on Thursday.
The match lasted 1 hour 54 minutes.
What definitely helped the unseeded team was its ability to have a 100% conversion rate of break points. While Raja and Sharan made good use of all three of their break point opportunities, the British-Uzbek pair could only have 37% success in the eight break points they earned.
They started their campaign at this claycourt tournament with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over the French team of Tristan Lamasine and Paul-Henri Mathieu on Wednesday.
Raja and Sharan next meet the top seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus for a place in the final.
Reached Newport semi-finals last week
The Indians are coming off a semi-final appearance at the Hall of Fame Championships played on grass in Newport, USA last week.
The Indians who last played together in 2014 prior to this year, met with success on grass that saw them make their way back into the top 100 in June once again. Sharan, currently ranked 96th and Raja, ranked 99th, grabbed back-to-back Challenger titles right before Wimbledon that brought back their confidence of playing with each other.
Even though the right hand-left hand combine bowed out in the first round of qualifying at the All England Club, they are certainly looking to build on that great run in the hardcourt season.
