Divij-Purav in summit clash of Leon ATP Challenger

Leon: Divij Sharan and Purav Raja shocked top seeds Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler in straight sets to earn a shot at their second ATP Challenger title of the seasonin Leon, Mexico.

The fourth seeded Indian pair beat the American-German combination 6-4 6-2 in the semi-finals of the USD 35000 hard court event. Both Monroe (71) and Stadler (70) are inside the top-00 bracket while left-handed Divij and Raja, who played for India in the Davis Cup tie against South Korea in February this year, are inside top-150 at 106 and 134 respectively. Divij and Raja wrested the initiative from opponents when in the seventh game when they were trailing 15-40. They broke the rivals to take lead which stayed with them. An early break in the second set, in the third game, made things easier for the Indians as they went up 2-1 and another break in the fifth game made the writing clear on the wall. In all the Indians won 56 points to 46 of their rivals. For the title, they will clash with Australian pair of Chris Guccione and Matt Reid. Divij and Raja had beaten this very pair to win their first title of season in Kyoto, Japan, last month. So, the Indians will have that psychological advantage of going into the summit clash. PTI