US Open 2013: Divij Sharan wins first Grand Slam match; today's schedule

FILE PHOTO: Divij Sharan (R)

Indians had a mixed day on courts at the US Open yesterday.

In the men’s doubles category, Divij Sharan and Lu Yen-Hsun won their opening match 6-1 7-5 over Australian Open finalists Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling. The match ran for an hour and three minutes. The Indo-Taiwanese pair fared better by converting 4 of their six break point opportunities while their opponents could convert just 1 of the 7 they had.

They are pairing up for the first time, and this is Divij’s first direct main draw appearance.

This was Sharan’s first win at a Grand Slam and is sure to boost his ranking further. It was a rather creditable win, and they now face Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the second round.

He earlier qualified for the Wimbledon main draw with Compatriot Purav Raja where they fell in the first round. They also teamed up to win the inaugural ATP event at Bogota after the Wimbledon.

Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek win 6-4 7-6(4) over Dmitry Tursunov and Jarkko Nieminen. They will face Daniel brands and Philip Oswald in the second round.

In another match, Mahesh Bhupathi and Philipp Petzschner lost to Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 3-6 6-7(4). This was Bhupathi’s final men’s doubles match at a Grand Slam, as he is set to retire at the end of the year.

In the women’s doubles first round, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie won 6-2 6-2 in an easy encounter against Annika Beck and Monica Puig. They will face Katalin Marosi and Megan Moulton-Levy in the next round.

Today’s matches featuring Indians:

Men’s Singles:

Somdev Devvarman vs Andreas Seppi(20) third on court 13

Men’s Doubles:

Rohan Bopanna/Eedouard Roger-Vasselin(6) vs Bradley Klahn/Sam Querrey (WC), second on court 8

Mixed Doubles:

Mahesh Bhupathi/Martina Hingis (WC) vs Robert Lindstedt/Chan Yung-Jan, last on court 4

Sania Mirza/Horia Tecau vs Liezel Huber/Marcelo Melo (8), fourth on court 14

Rohan Bopanna/Julia Goerges (3) vs Abigail Spears/Santiago Gonzalez last on court 4

Matches on all courts start at 11 am local time and 8:30 pm IST