Divij Sharan and Artem Sital lost out in the quarters of the ATP 250 New York Open to the big serving team of Steve Johnson and Reilly Opelka with a scoreline of 36 46.
Divij Sharan shares his thoughts on the match with Trilok Karki.
Thoughts on the match
We did not play the game that we were capable of playing. It was tough because we came up against a big serving team. There was always pressure on our service games to keep serving well.
We served decently as we were able to come out of a few tricky situations in our service games. It was just 1 game in both the sets that we got broken. We had our chances to break back with few close games. In a match like this, we have to take those chances and convert the opportunities and that did not happen today.
Any key moments
That second game when Steve Johnson was serving, we had a few break points there. If we had broken him there, being up a break is different. Once we lost our service game in the first or second sets, against opponents who serve big, they had no pressure and served more freely.
You were 0-30 in the last game as well
Opelka has a massive serve but we kept fighting till the end. That is our speciality. At 0-30, Steve Johnson hit a volley which landed on the line and then Opelka came up with a few aces after that.
Was there any change in game plan when you play big servers like Opelka and Johnson?
We did not try to do anything different. We played a much better match in the first round. Today after getting broken early in both the sets, we were a bit unsettled. They both returned well and served confidently, so it wasn’t easy for us.
Where do you go next from here?
We’ll head to Delray Beach and then try to play Dubai (UAE) or Acapulco (Mexico) depending on the entry lists.
