Wimbledon 2017: Purav Raja, Divij Sharan win tough first round battle to advance in men's doubles

London: Unseeded Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan entered the second round of the men’s doubles event at the Wimbledon with a hard-earned four-set victory over British-Portuguese pair of Kyle Edmund and Joao Sousa. The Indian duo won 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) in little over three hours. [caption id=“attachment_3780551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s Purav Raja (L) and Divij Sharan (R) in action during their men’s doubles first round match against Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Brazil’s Joao Sousa at Wimbledon. AFP[/caption] In fact, Raja-Sharan saved a set point in the tie-breaker of the fourth set before breaking the opposition’s serve to wrap up the set and match at 8-6. This is the best performance for the duo at the SW19 as they have never been able to get past the first round hurdle in their previous attempts at the Championship. Ranked 57th in the ATP doubles rankings, Raja and Sharan held their serve till the 12th game before upping the ante in the tie-breaker to win the set at 7-2. After losing the second set 3-6, the Indians did well to break the opposition serve in the second game of the third set and maintained the single break lead to win the third set 6-4. The fourth set was also closely contested before the Indians prevailed on the 14th point of the tie-breaker.