Australian Open 2018, Round 1: Divij Sharan and Rajeev Ram vs Viktor Troicki and Marius Copil, Live Match Updates

Sharan and Ram def Copil and Troicki 7-6(5), 6-4 to enter R2.

Updated: 18 January 2018 11:09 IST - Published: 18 January 2018 00:17 IST

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Stay tuned for all the latest updates from the 2018 Australian Open. We'll be back later in the day for the live coverage of Roger Federer's second round match.

Goodbye!

It was definitely a good start to the 2018 Australian Open campaign for the 16th seeds. Surely this will boost their confidence. And with this win, all Indians are through to R2 of men's doubles. Earlier, Rohan Bopanna, and the pair of Leander Paes and Purav Raja also won.

Final score: Sharan and Ram def Copil and Troicki 7-6(5), 6-4 to enter R2.

WIN

And Sharan and Ram HAVE DONE IT!

They have closed out the set and match for a place in Round 2!!

Under tremendous pressure, Copil and Troicki held.

Sharan and Ram will now try to serve out the win at 5-4.

And it continues in the same fashion.

Sharan and Ram have their one-break lead.

Now up 5-3

Just one game away from the win

And they consolidate the break with an easy service game.

4-2

BREAK

Sharan and Ram finally have the breakthrough! They earn the vital service break to go up to 3-2

Both pairs staved off some challenge from their opponents' to hold to 30.

2-2

Interestingly, they never got a break point in that game.

Sharan and Ram held on.

1-1

Troicki and Copil held to love and have now forced a deuce on the 16th seeds' serve

Good start to Set 2 for them!

SET

And Sharan and Ram bag the first set 7-6(5).

Double fault from Troicki and Copil and it's set points to Sharan and Ram!

6-4

4-4

3-3

And they have lost the minibreak soon enough!

2-2

With two forehand winners, Troicki and Ram go up to 2-0

Copil and Troicki too have held.

We have a tiebreak.

6-6

The 16th seeds survive a couple of break points to hold here.

6-5

Now Sharan and Ram are under pressure.

Saved a break point to make it deuce.

Once more Copil and Troicki show nerves of steel under pressure.

Despite it being 30-30, they survived and held to even matters.

5-5

And Sharan-Ram follow it up with an easy service game.

5-4

One game away from wrapping the set!

Sharan and Ram put pressure on their opponents' serve and made it 30-30. But a backhand error from them allowed Troicki and Copil to hold.

4-4

The 16th seeds blast forehand winners all over the court for a 4-3 lead.

Still no service break!

And the unseeded pair too responds brilliantly with a comfortable service game.

3-3

The Indo-American pair passed that stern test with flying colours!

They hold and lead 3-2

Some resistance from Troicki and Copil as they produce some blistering forehands to force a deuce on the Sharan-Ram serve.

This time there is no hiccup from Troicki and Copil after their marathon service game earlier on.

They too hold to love.

2-2

Ram and Sharan race through their next service game, holding to love.

2-1 lead it is

They even had a break point but could not produce a breakthrough.

Troicki and Copil held on

1-1

And Sharan and Ram are now relentlessly attacking on return.

They have made it deuce.

The 16th seeds make a bright start and hold to 15.

1-0

Good morning! We are minutes away from the start!

Welcome to the Sportskeeda liveblog of the 2018 Australian Open men's doubles. The Indian campaign starts today. We shall follow the first round match of Divij Sharan and Rajeev Ram in this blog. They are seeded 16th and face Viktor Troicki and Marius Copil for a place in the second round.

The left-handed Sharan is currently ranked 48th, which is just one spot shy of his career-best ranking of 47th. He had a great end to the season last year when he won the ATP 250 event in Antwerp and the Bengaluru Challenger.

Divij began the 2018 season in fine fashion after triumphing at the Canberra Challenger just last week. He will look to carry that form into the season's opening Major.