Wimbledon 2018 | Divij Sharan and partner Artem Sitak reach quarter-finals in men’s doubles

07/10/2018

Divij Sharan, along with New Zealand’s Artem Sitak, has made his way to the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships by beating Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski by 1-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4. This is the first time that Sharan has qualified for a Grand slam quarter-final in his entire career.

Indian tennis ace Divij Sharan, who has won three ATP titles, along with New Zealand’s Artem Sitak are on a roll at the ongoing Wimbledon Championships. The duo were at their best when they beat Horacio Zeballos and Julio Peralta in the round of 32 encounter to set a tie with Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski in the round of 16.

The pair of Divij and Artem were at their best yesterday when they went up against Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski 1-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4 over the Israeli-Polish combination after a tough men’s doubles third round which lasted three hours and fifty minutes. The duo will now face off against American pair of Jack Sock and Mark Bryan in the quarters.

Prior to this achievement, third rounds at Australian Open this year and at French Open (2017) and US Open (2013) were the best performances for the left-hander. With this, he has made his way to the first grand slam quarter-final of his career.

The win against Erlich-Matkowski was the second consecutive win where Sharan and Sitak cancelled out a two-set deficit to chalk out a five-set inspiring win.

“It was a mental battle out there. Even though we lost the first two sets, we believed we could still win. We fought really hard and stayed strong mentally through the last three sets. There were many games where we were serving and were down but we played big and came back to hold those games,” Sharan told PTI.

“There was a lot of support for us from our respective teams and fans and that also helped,” he added.