The unseeded Indian team of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja secured their best-ever result at the French Open as they moved into the pre-quarter-finals on Thursday. The duo upset the 15th seeded Austrian-Croatian pairing of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes.
Sharan and Raja took the opening set courtesy of the lone break they got in the set. Both teams faced four break points each, but the higher-ranked opponents failed to capitalise on any of their four chances even as they saved three of the four break points on their serve. Showing their prowess in the second set, Marach and Pavic didn’t give any break point chances to the Indians, and made good of the one chance they received on Sharan and Raja’s serve.
In the final set, the Indians turned back tables on their opponents to emerge as the victors. Sharan and Raja finished the match with five aces and two double faults to their opponents’ hitting seven aces and four double faults. Sharan and Raja won 75% points off their first serves and 54% points off their second serves. In comparison, Marach and Pavic won a relatively higher percentage of points off their first serves (79%) and converted 50% points through their second serves.
Sharan and Raja will now face the American-New Zealand pair of Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus for a place in the last-eight on Saturday.
No pressure, only motivation for Sharan and Raja
Speaking to Scroll.in, on their day off in Paris on Friday, Sharan pointed out how the duo winning their first-ever clay title, at the ATP Challenger tournament in Bordeaux, France, helped them to play at Roland Garros.
“[It was our] first title on clay,” Sharan said. “And now, we have won the first few rounds at the French Open. So, it’s really motivating.” Sharan, however, also noted that irrespective of there not being any differences in the playing conditions between Bordeaux and Paris, there was, however, one specific difference between the two playing arenas.
“Both the tournaments are on clay and in France. So, conditions are very similar. [There’s] just a different atmosphere. That was a challenger and this is a Grand Slam.”
Yet, despite excitement continuing to build around them, Sharan, on his part seemed quite at home with the way he and his partner have performed so far. “[We are] just enjoying the moment,” he said. “We will go out there and play our game. [We are] looking forward to the challenge.”
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