The Indian challenge in men’s doubles at the ongoing Australian Open ended on Friday after the Indo-Kiwi pair of Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak was knocked out of the tournament following a loss in the second round.
The Indo-Kiwi Pair of Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak were sent packing by the after going down in straight sets to Brazilian-Croatian pair of Bruno Soares and Mate Pavic. In a match that lasted an hour and 16 minutes Divij-Sitak went down 6-7 3-6 in straight sets against Bruno Soares and Mate Pavic. The Indo-Kiwi pair of Divij-Sitak had made into the second round of the tournament by overwhelming Spanish-Portugese pair of Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday.
Earlier, Rohan Bopanna along with his Japanese partner Yasutaka Uchiyama was also knocked out of the tournament after suffering a 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 defeat by the hands of American brothers Bob Brayan and Mike Brayan in the first round.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza campaign at the Australian open also came to a heartbreaking end after she was forced to pull out of mid-way from the women’s doubles match alongside her Ukranian partner Nadiia Kichenok due to a leg injury.
The Indo-Ukranian pair of Sania-Nadia were pitted against Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu. The pair of Sani-Nadia was trailing 0-1 in the second set when Sania informed that she was unable to continue playing due to her calf injury. Sania had also decided to pull out of the mixed doubles where she was to partner with Rohan Bopanna due to the same injury.
Now the onus to keep India in the hunt is on Rohan Bopanna who is the only Indian left in the fray. Bopanna will try keep alive the Indian challenge in the mixed doubles event along with Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok, who along with Sania had recently won the Hobart International women’s doubles title.
