India’s No. 2 men’s doubles player Divij Sharan and his partner Artem Sitak of New Zealand have been eliminated from the New York Open. The Indo-Kiwi pair of Sharan and Sitak suffered straight-sets 3-6, 4-6 defeat against the all American pair of Steven Johnson and Rally Opelka.
The Indo-Kiwi pair of Sharan and Sitak looked rusty in the first set as they conceded the first set 3-6. However, the Indo-Kiwi pair then did pose a small fight back showing a glimmer of hope in the second but their comeback was halted by the all American pair of Steven Johnson and Rally Opelka as they took the second set 4-6 to register a victory in straight sets and send Sharan and Sitak packing.
Sharing his post-game thoughts, Sharan said,
“It’s not the result we wanted but we will take this experience as a part of the learning curve.”
Indian tennis player Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak had earlier defeated the pair of top seed Austin Krajicek of America and Franco Skugor of Croatia in the men’s doubles of the New York Open 2020 tennis competition to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the doubles, India’s second top-ranked Indo-Kiwi duo of Sharan and Sitak registered a comfortable 6-3 win in the second set after they initially struggled to win the first set 7-6.
After winning the match which lasted for an hour and 19 minutes, Sharan had said,
“It is always good to come back with a win. Sitak and I are working on reconciling and I think the results have started coming. Ready to face a tough challenge in the quarter-finals.”
One of the longest-running tennis tournaments in the United States, the New York Open 2020 is being played at the NYCB Live on Long Island.
It is tom be noted that Sharan is eyeing to better his individual ranking as he is eyeing a spot in the Tokyo Olympics alongside Rohan Bopanna who is playing at the Bengaluru Open.
