Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna may have failed to bring smiles to Indian tennis fans but two other Indians have brought a lot of cheer this weekend. Men’s doubles pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja captured their second career ATP title at the Abierto Mexicano Mifel in Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturday evening.
The unseeded duo edged past the Israeli-British pair of Jonathan Erlich and Ken Skupski 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in the summit clash of this hardcourt event.
Their first ATP title came at Bogota in 2013. The team, who qualified for Wimbledon the same year, had parted ways in between only to join forces again this year.
It did not take long for them to find success again. They won two Challenger titles right before Wimbledon and then followed it up with another one at Segovia end of July. They had been showing superb consistency at ATP tournaments too and reached three semi-finals after Wimbledon this year.
“This is our second ATP title and we absolutely love Los Cabos,” said Sharan after the win.
“We had a great week. The crowd was amazing, playing in front of so many people that came out to watch us. It was a very tight match and I’m glad we pulled it through.”
The Indians had got a walkover from the top seeds Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez in their first round. In the quarter-finals, they had a tough match and overcame the American-Kiwi pair of Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak, 1-6, 6-3, 10-7.
In their last-four match, they prevailed over Jonathan Marray and Adil Shamasdin, 6-4, 6-4.
Their title glory has now seen make a massive jump in the latest ATP rankings released today. While Sharan has leapt 14 places to 69th, Raja is now 74th after climbing up 11 places.
