Divij Saran
Divij Saran (born 2 March 1986), from Delhi, is an Indian professional tennis player. He won Gold Medal in Asian Games-2018 in Lawn tennis, Men's doubles. He specialises in doubles and competes on the ATP World Tour. He has 3 ATP world tour level titles in men's doubles. He represents India in the Davis Cup.
Personal life
Divij Saran was born in New Delhi. He began playing tennis at the age of seven at a local tennis academy. His favorite surfaces are grass and hard courts. His overall favorite shot is the volley. His idols growing up were Roger Federer, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. Divij has stated that if he did not become a tennis player he would have liked to become a company executive.
Junior career
Divij's best junior world doubles ranking was No. 5 in 2003. His best result at Grand Slam Junior championships was his semifinal appearance at 2004 French Open where he partnered with compatriot Tushar Liberhan.
Professional career
Divij turned pro in year 2004. He found limited success in singles and developed as doubles specialist. He won his first Futures doubles title in year 2007. He reached his first doubles ATP challenger finals in year 2010 at Kyoto Challenger, Japan. He won his first doubles ATP challenger title in September 2011 at Ningbo Challenger, China. He continued to find success in doubles at ITF and Challengers events. By the end of 2011 he had won 16 ITF titles and 1 ATP Challenger title.
2012 proved to be breakthrough year for Divij on ATP challenger tour. He reached 8 ATP challenger doubles finals and won 2 titles in the year. Divij won Busan Challenger with Yuki Bhambri and Bangkok Challenger with Vishnu Vardhan. In September Divij made his Davis Cup debut against New Zealand.[7] With his good run he entered into list of top 100 ranked doubles players. He finished year close to top 100 doubles ranking at 107.
Divij continued to impress at Challenger events. He reached 5 finals and won a title at Kyoto Challenger, Japan. This was his first title with his most successful partner Purav Raja. The pair played together throughout the year and they found their biggest success by winning their first ATP world tour title at 2013 Claro Open in Bogota, Colombia. They defeated second-seed French-Dutch combination of Édouard Roger-Vasselin and Igor Sijsling in the finals.
Divij entered qualifying draw at 2013 Wimbledon Championships with Raja. The pair successfully qualified for main draw. They lost in first round to Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler. This was the first match at a Grand Slam event for both Raja and Divij. At 2013 US Open Divij partnered with Lu Yen-hsun from Chinese Taipei. The pair reached third round where they lost to Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer.
As a result of good run Divij finished year for the first time inside top 100 doubles rankings at 71. 2014: Asian games medal
Divij reached four challenger finals and won two titles in year 2014. He won Kyoto Challenger with Purav Raja[11] and Shanghai Challenger with Yuki Bhambri. His best result at an ATP world tour event was semi-final appearance at 2014 Claro Open where he had partnered with Canadian player Adil Shamasdin.
At 2014 Asian Games, Divij won bronze medal for India with Yuki Bhambri.
Year 2015 was not so successful for Divij. He played with many different partners and reached 4 Challenger finals winning 2 out of it. He won Guzzini Challenger with his British partner Ken Skupski[13] and Izmir Challenger with compatriot Saketh Myneni. He played only a single match at ATP world tour level and lost it. He finished the year as 134 ranked doubles player.
Divij made an excellent comeback in 2016. He partnered with Purav Raja and reached 6 ATP Challenger finals winning 4 of it. They won titles at Manchester Trophy Challenger, Aegon Surbiton Trophy, Open Castilla y León and Pune Challenger. The pair also won their second ATP world tour title at Los Cabos Open, Mexico. They defeated pair of Jonathan Erlich and Ken Skupski in the finals. Divij finished the year with doubles ranking of 63.
Divij started the new season on strong note. He reached to his third ATP world tour final at 2017 Chennai Open partnering with Purav Raja. In an all Indian final they lost to team of Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. He reached his fourth ATP world tour final and won his third ATP title in Belgium at European Open with his new partner Scott Lipsky. They defeated pair of Santiago González and Julio Peralta in the finals.
Divij had good run in Challenger tour as well. He reached four finals winning two of it. He won titles at Bordeaux Challenger with Purav Raja and Bangalore Open with Mikhail Elgin. At the back of good results, Divij entered into top 50 rankings on 27 November 2017 and has been holding spot in top 50 since then.
References
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