DIVIJ SHARAN MARCHES INTO THE SECOND WEEK OF WIMBLEDON

The presence of Divij Sharan with his partner Artem Sitak of New Zealand in the second week of Wimbledon, will partially compensate for the alarming lack of Indian players in the junior events.

Divij and partner had won a marathon men’s doubles second round, after losing the first two sets against Julio Peralta of Chile and Horacio Zaballas of Argentina, before Wimbledon stayed quiet on the Sunday.

Divij and Sitak won 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-4, to challenge Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in the pre-quarterfinals.

The 32-year-old Divij who had made the pre-quarterfinals of the US Open in 2013, French Open last year and the Australian Open this year, would attempt to improve on his record.

Divij, however, was beaten 7-5, 6-3 in the mixed doubles first round in partnership with Alicja Rosolska of Poland, by Marcin Matkowski and Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania.

Qualifiers Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan went down with guns blazing 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 3-6 against Ben McLachlan of Japan and Jan Lennard Struff of Germany in the second round.

Rohan Bopanna, who did not play the mixed doubles this time, retired in the second round of men’s doubles in partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.

The results:

Men’s doubles (second round): Ben McLachlan (Jpn) & Jan Lennard Struff (Ger) bt Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(2), 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-3; Frederik Nielsen (Den) & Joe Salisbury (GBR) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) & Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 7-6(4), 2-1 (retired); Artem Sitak (Nzl) & Divij Sharan bt Julio Peralta (Chi) & Horacio Zaballas (Arg) 6-7(5),4 -6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Mixed doubles (first round): Marcin Matkowski (Pol) & Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rou) bt Divij Sharan & Alicja Rosolska (Pol) 7-5, 6-3.