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First title for Paes-Raja
Leander Paes and Purav Raja won their first title together after joining forces as they lifted the Knoxville Challenger trophy with a close win over James Cerretani and John-Patrick Smith. The top-seeded Indian team battled past the US-Australian combine 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final of the $75000 hard court event, on Sunday.
New York: Leander Paes and Purav Raja won their first title together after joining forces as they lifted the Knoxville Challenger trophy with a close win over James Cerretani and John-Patrick Smith. The top-seeded Indian team battled past the US-Australian combine 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final of the $75000 hard court event, on Sunday.
It was first title clash for Paes and Raja after joining forces since August, when they teamed up to compete at the ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open. It was a fourth Challenger title of the season for Paes, having won events at Leon and Ilkley with Canadian Adil Shamasdin and Tallahassee trophy with American Scott Lipsky.
Raja, before teaming up with Paes, had won the Bordeaux Challenger with Divij Sharan and also made the final of the ATP 250 Chennai Open with the Delhi left-hander. "It is fun. I have learnt a lot and trying to work on a system which hopefully will make us better in the coming weeks," Raja told PTI.
"It's nice to know what he (Paes) is thinking on big points and the approach to it. Also we are trying to form a system with eye formation which has enabled us to hold serve easier this week," he added. It was the eighth tournament, including the US Open, for the duo in three and a half months since uniting as a team. "Yes, we have had some tough weeks and some good weeks," he said.
