Australian Open 2018

[PKBasu]

Still on serve in the second set. RamSharan to serve at 63 45 against the top seeds Kubot-Melo.

[sameerph]

Second set tie break is on.
Kubot/Melo win the second set 76(4).

[PKBasu]

Narrowly missed a big opportunity. Third set will be a humdinger...

[PKBasu]

Sad end: RamSharan lose the final set to the top seeds 4-6

Awaiting Prof's match report!

[Varma]

It was a close loss, but this pair can only go up. Divij's level is very impressive. They should stick together at least until Q1 and see how it goes. With LeePu showing lot of improvement, doubles is looking pretty positive again. It will be nice if our top 4 continue to show this form and have Vishnu-Bala, and Jeevan join the group of big boys.

- Varma

[PKBasu]

[R3] 16-Rajeev Ram / Divij Sharan (USA/IND) l. 1-Lukas Kubot/Marcelo Melo (POL/BRA) 63 67(4) 46

That they fully lived up to their seeding in their very first tournament together was impressive enough. That they also came perilously close to upsetting the top seeds makes them the pair to watch in Men's Doubles this year. I hope this is a durable partnership, not just a one-off one.

[sameerph]

Rohan and Roger-Vasselin lost the first set 4-6 against Marach-Pavic.

[sameerph]

[R3] 16-Rajeev Ram / Divij Sharan (USA/IND) l. 1-Lukas Kubot/Marcelo Melo (POL/BRA) 63 67(4) 46

That they fully lived up to their seeding in their very first tournament together was impressive enough. That they also came perilously close to upsetting the top seeds makes them the pair to watch in Men's Doubles this year. I hope this is a durable partnership, not just a one-off one.

I too await Prof's report.

But, I felt Melo-Kubot just picked up their game from the middle of the second set and then on played like world #1. Divij's serve was the weak link of our pair. Commentators mentioned that his serve was a lot slower than the players at this level. He was putting good depth and direction on it but sometimes that cannot make up for lower speed. So, his serve was always under threat and was broken once each in first and third sets.

Rest of Divij's game was pretty good. Rajeev was good on his serve and his reflex volleys at the net. I hope he sticks with Divij for some more time this year.

[knarayen]

Sad end: RamSharan lose the final set to the top seeds 4-6

Awaiting Prof's match report!

I'm very saddened by this loss. Set 1 was fabulous, RamSharan broke Kubot when they were down 3-4, and held with Ram serving to win it at 6-3. It was exciting to see Sharan's low volley pickups against some great returns from Melo.

The second set could have gone either way. Sharan was broken to 1-2, but they quickly broke back to 2-2, and after that both sides kept holding till the tiebreak. I think i remember RamSharan leading 3-1 with a break in the tiebreak, but Kubot/Melo came back from the brink to win several straight points to close out the second set tiebreak. I remember sensing a momentum shift, and Melo/Kubot settling down to Sharan's serve patterns. Their returns started getting stronger towards the end of the second set.

The inevitable had to happen in set 3 - Sharan got broken and they couldn't break back.

If Sharan can put some extra bite into his second serve with some extra depth, RamSharan could become real contenders for a slam title. His second serve was frequently sitting up short. Otherwise Sharan was impressive all around, especially with quick hands at the net. Rams serving was amazing as usual. He had Melo struggling on returns all the time. Rams returning was impressive too. A little more variation on return patterns would also help. Melo/kubot frequently would leave the down-the-line open making the returners hit over the higher part of the net and having the server move over to cover the down-the-line return, they did this a lot during the match especially with Melo at the net. This was a very smart move - they pulled a lot of error returns from sharan.

Prof

[PKBasu]

Yes, from observing Divij play, I noticed that his serve is much less powerful than one expects of a grass-court specialist (like he was before becoming a doubles specialist). He has excellent volleys and court sense, but definitely needs to add some speed to his serves. (Of course, Leander has survived easily as a doubles pro without having the serve velocity of the best ones, but LP is LP!).

Thanks for the match notes, Prof, insightful as always!

[PKBasu]

Bopanna-RogerVasselin are serving for the second set, up 5-3.

Heck, they are broken after one Deuce. 5-4, opponents to serve.

[sameerph]

Bopanna-RogerVasselin won the second set 76(5).

[sameerph]

Just saw that Marach-Pavic have won titles in first 2 weeks of this year in Doha and Auckland. So, they are a team on a hot winning streak.

[sameerph]

Phew, Rohan held his serve taking 5 straight points from 0-40 down for 2-2 in the final set.

[sameerph]

All over for us in mens doubles .

[R3] (10) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l. (7) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 46 76(5) 36

2 close losses against higher ranked and in-form teams.

Overall, I think decent performance by our doubles players at this AO.