Divij Sharan recorded his first-ever ATP Tour level win when he and partner Ivo Karlovic saved five match points to advance to the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships even as Prakash Amritraj crashed out of the singles event.
Divij, who made his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, and Karlovic got the better of Ukrainians Illya Marchenko and Denys Molchanov 4-6, 7-6 (1), 11-9 in the opening round of the $455,775 grass court event.
In the singles, Amritraj suffered mauling at the hands of former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, losing his second round match 2-6, 1-6. The Australian broke Amritraj six times while saving seven of the eight chances he faced.
Divij and the big-serving Karlovic had two break points in the first two service games of their opponents but could not convert and lost both at deuce.
Trailing by a set, the Indo-Croatian duo squandered a break chance in the 11th game of the second set, which was eventually decided via tie-breaker. Divij and Karlovic raced to a 6-0 lead before winning the tie break 7-1.
In the decider, Divij and Karlovic were down 4-9, but saved five match points and took seven points in a row to win 11-9.
In other singles second round matches, Karlovic advanced with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada.
France’s Nicolas Mahut beat Tim Smyczek of the USA 6-2, 6-4, while Michal Przysiezny of Poland edged past Indian-origin American Rajeev Ram 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Second seed John Isner of the USA defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 7-6 (9/7).