Divij Sharan’s Parma challenge ends

Divij Sharan and partner Jackson Withrow lost their pre-quarter doubles encounter in straight sets at the ATP Challenger event.

2 minBy Rahul Venkat
Divij Sharan.

India’s Divij Sharan lost his Round of 16 doubles match in straight sets at the ATP 125 Challenger event in Parma, Italy on Tuesday.

Sharan and his American partner Jackson Withrow fell 6-2, 6-1 to Kazakh pair Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

After both pairs held serve in the first four games of the opening set, Sharan-Withrow were broken in the fifth and seventh games and their opponents won the first set comfortably.

Sharan-Withrow were trailing 4-0 in the second set after losing their serve twice. 

The Indo-American pair did fight back to avoid a bagel, holding serve in the fifth game but were again broken in the seventh as Golubev-Nedovyesov wrapped up the win.

In Parma on Wednesday, there is still some action to look forward to for Indian tennis fans. 

Sumit Nagal plays against Laslo Dere in the singles pre-quarters while Prajnesh Gunneswaran will begin his doubles campaign alongside Kamil Majchrzak.

Ramanathan falls early

Meanwhile, Ramkumar Ramanathan lost 6-2, 7-5 to Belgian Kimmer Coppejans in the men’s singles at the Sanchez-Casal Leotron Catalonia, an ATP Challenger tournament in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday.

Ramanathan though still has all to play for in the doubles with Australian partner Aleksandar Vukic.

Ramanathan-Vukic will face the third-seeded Indo-Swiss pair of N Sriram Balaji and Luca Margaroli in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.