Melbourne, Jan 24 (IANS) India’s Divij Sharan on Friday got knocked out of the ongoing Australian Open after he lost his second-round men’s doubles match with New Zealand partner Artem Sitak.
Sharan and Sitak lost 7-6 (6-2), 6-3 to Brazil’s Bruno Soares and Mate Pavic of Croatia in a match that lasted one hour and 17 minutes. The duo had entered the second round after defeating Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday.
Earlier, Rohan Boppanna had also crashed out of the tournament in first round after he, along with Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan, lost 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 to US’ Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike.
On Thursday, Sania Mirza’s campaign in the women’s doubles had also come to a disappointing end after she was forced to retire mid-way during her first round women’s doubles match with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine.
Mirza and Kichenok were trailing 0-1 in the second set against the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu when the Indian was forced to retire due to a calf injury. The Indo-Ukranian pair had lost the first set 2-6.
Before that, Mirza had already pulled out of the mixed doubles event alongside Bopanna with the same injury.
–IANS
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