Divij Sharan / Purav Raja (pair) thread ...

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 90 in Brest, France (Hard)

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. (3) Jonathan Eysseric (FRA)/ David Pel (NED), 26 57

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Bergamo, Italy (Hard)

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (2) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

Time for them to break out of a mini slump of 2 first round losses in a row, but facing a good team...

[jayakris]

Nope, not today...

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. (2) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT), 67(4) 16

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 90 in Bratislava, Slovak Rep. (Hard):

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Viktor Durasovic (NOR)/ Patrik Niklas-Salminen (FIN), Tuesday, ~3:30 pm

[jayakris]

^^^ They are down 3-6 after one set ... But playing much better in the second. Broke in the 2nd and 6th games and serving for the set. Saved a break point at 5-1 and Purav served an ace down the middle at set point. 3-6 6-1 and an STB to start. Played a good STB. Down a mini at 0-2, up a mini at 5-4 but all even from 5-5 onward till 8-9 when a Divij shot missed by a centimeter and they fell 8-10. They were playing positive tennis, and playing well, so I have no complaints! Unfortunate loss. But that is how things have gone for us lately. Either we play well and lose, or we play badly and lose badly. Losses, either way

[PKBasu]

Our pair have won the second set 6-1. Can they take the momentum into the STB? No they couldn't

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. Viktor Durasovic (NOR)/ Patrik Niklas-Salminen (FIN) 36 61 6-10

[jayakris]

They are in the main draw list for the Helsinki challenger next week.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 90 in Helsinki, Finland (Hard):

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (WC) Patrick Kaukovalta (FIN)/ Otso Martikainen (FIN)

They are on a 5-match losing streak, starting from being a couple of points away from winning the Columbus challenger. They have lost 7 of the last 9 regular sets, both of the two tiebreaker sets in there, and all three super tiebreakers. I think they played quite well in at least 3 or 4 of those matches, and in the parts I watched. But they badly need a win. Can they break out of the slump here? I hope they will...

[jayakris]

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. (WC) Patrick Kaukovalta (FIN)/ Otso Martikainen (FIN), 76(4) 61

I saw the match for a few minutes. I am always struck by what a fun doubles player Purav is. So skilled, like earlier Indian players. Almost a magician sometimes in some of the soft shots he can hit.

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Eero Vasa(FIN)/ Otto Virtanen (FIN)

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 90 in Helsinki, Finland (Hard):

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. Eero Vasa(FIN)/ Otto Virtanen (FIN), 36 64 [10-6]
so
[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Alibek Kachmazov (RUS)/ Pavel Kotov (RUS)

[jayakris]

[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. Alibek Kachmazov (RUS)/ Pavel Kotov (RUS), 63 62

They looked really good. Purav is the smartest tennis player we have. His sense of where to place the balls softly is uncanny. Just makes the opponents look foolish when he keeps coming up with those shots.

[F] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (3) Reese Stalder (USA)/ Petros Tsitsipas (GRE)

[jayakris]

And they won the title!!

At the Challenger 90 in Helsinki, Finland (Hard):

[F] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. (3) Reese Stalder (USA)/ Petros Tsitsipas (GRE), 67(5) 63 [10-8]

[Omkara]

Good one. Ajay from yuko/saki most of our guys struggle in challenger doubles. Good to see something different

[jayakris]

They will be at the Antalya challenger (Turkiye) next week.

[Update: They have withdrawn from Antalya, as of Sunday ]

[PKBasu]

Putting score in regular format.

Terrific title win by Purav and Divij against seasoned doubles players in closely fought match ... This title win was huge for their career as their chances of US open participation were depending upon it ... Great stuff guys, proud of you.

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

Doubles Final
Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 76(4) 76(3)


from Divij's FB page.

Just harking back to the glory days of their second ATP tour title, when we had taken to calling them Indian Express II. Sadly, they soon began to drift apart thereafter...until their recent re-unification.