Indian shuttler Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna progress to round 3 in Australian Open

Melbourne, January 19: Indian shuttler Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna with their respected partners on Friday swiftly entered into the men's doubles third round at the Australian Open which is being held in Melbourne.

 

Divij Sharan and his American partner Ram registered a victory over the Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers by 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the second round which lasted for two hours and eight minutes. However, it was a hard fought win for Divij Sharan and his American partner Ram after clinching few points at a crucial time in the match.

After winning this match, Divij Sharan equaled his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the men’s doubles third round at the Australian Open. Last year Sharan had made the third round at the French Open with Purav Raja. He had also reached the US Open third round in 2013.

Meanwhile, the 10th seeded Indo-French team of Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also progressed to the next round who knocked out Portugal's Joao Sousa and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-2, 7-6. They are now up against seventh seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Austria's Oliver Marach who defeated Artem Sitak and Wesley Koolhof 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-4.