Divij Sharan advances to men's doubles second round in Australian Open

India's Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak on Wednesday progressed to the second round of the Australian Open men's doubles event after beating Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa. Sharan and Sitak got the better of the Portuguese-Spanish duo 6-4 7-5 in a thrilling one-hour 28-minute encounter.

The duo will next face the winner of the first-round match between 10th seeds Mate Pavio-Bruno Soares and Ben Molachlan and Luke Bambridge. On Tuesday, India's top-ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran missed out on a chance to play against world no.2 Novak Djokovic after crashing out in the men's singles opening round.