SURBITON (UK), June 11: Fourth seeded Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Puvraj Raja won their second consecutive ATP Challenger title after a hard fought win over top seeds Ken and Neal Skupski in the summit clash of the Aegon Surbiton Trophy, here.
The Indians won 6-3 7-6 (3) in the final against the local favourites, whom they had beaten last week as well to clinch the Manchester Challenger tournament.
As it rained pretty heavily on Wednesday, the matches were running late and left-handed Sharan and Raja had to play both their semifinal and the final on the same day with a gap of about an hour.
They won the first set comfortably being up a double break at 5-2. The Indians were broken in the eighth game but broke right back to seal the first set.
In the second set, the British pair fought hard and broke the Indian rivals in the third game. They kept the lead till they were serving at 5-3. They served 40-15 and had two set points but Sharan and Raja not only saved those but went on to break them.
The set went to a tie breaker in which the Indians prevailed.
“I am happy with the way both of us are playing at the moment. We are enjoying our tennis and looking to improve with every match we play,” Sharan said after his match.
Sharan and Raja split 2650 Euros and earned 80 ranking points each. (PTI)
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