India's Purav Raja qualifies for Wimbledon doubles main draw

Purav Raja (L) with Leander Paes

World No. 90 Purav Raja has successfuly qualified for the doubles main draw at the 2014 Wimbledon championships along with Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner. The duo defeated the top-seeded German pair of Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko in the final qualifying round with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to qualify. They had earlier defeated the Indo-Russian pair of Somdev Devvarman and Evgeny Donskoy in the first qualifying round 7-5, 7-5.

Raja has earned the opportunity to enter the main draw of a Grand Slam for the second time, having qualified for Wimbledon in successive years. He had qualified last year too, with compatriot Divij Sharan, who also finds himself in the main draw this year.

Purav Raja and Marcelo Demoliner had earlier partnered for the Zagreb indoors in February, where they lost a tight semifinal match to the second seeds Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau. After a few unsuccessful runs, the duo will aim for some success at the Grand Slam level.