Divij Sharan wins fifth career ATP title; clinches St Petersburg Open with Slovak Igor Zelenay

India’s Divij Sharan on Sunday claimed his fifth ATP career title after winning the St Petersburg Open doubles crown in Russia on Sunday partnering Igor Zelenay of Slovakia. The duo collected 250 ATP points and $66,740. The Indo-Slovakian team got past the Italian pair of Matteo Berrettini and Simone Bolelli 6-3 3-6 10-8 in the tie-breaker which was a hard-fought summit clash that lasted for one hour and 17 minutes to clinch the doubles title in the $1,248,665 ATP Tour tennis tournament.

This is Divij’s second title of the season after winning the Maharashtra Open in Pune earlier this year (partnering Rohan Bopanna). The 49th-ranked Divij has so far, won 16 Challenger and 19 Futures doubles titles, apart from the five Tour titles. An elated Divij dedicated the title to his mother on her birthday.

“It took a while to realise we actually won the match,” he said to the PTI. “It was so sudden. I would like to dedicate this win to my mother as it is her birthday today,” he said after the match.

Divij claimed strong bonding between him and his partner did the trick for them in the marathon title clash. The 33-year-old was happy for his partner Igor, who clinched his maiden ATP title.

“It’s actually Igor’s first ATP title, so it’s a great result for him,” he said.

“It was really a close match and we came back well in the tie-break. Berrettini was serving 6-3 and we came up with two really good returns. And then the last two points were really close as well.”