India’s Divij Sharan and his Serbian partner Nikola Cacic fought hard before going down in three sets to eighth seeds Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof in the first round of the US Open men’s doubles event.
Sharan and Cacic lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 against Croatia’s Mektic and Koolhof of the Netherlands in a tough contest that lasted one hour and 46 minutes on Wednesday.
Inconsistency in serves played a big role in Sharan and Cacic not being able to cash in on their comeback in the second set on Wednesday. The pair made a poor start to the match but made up for it by forcing the game into a decider with a dominant 6-3 win in the second set.
The winners will next play Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina.
The other Indian in the men’s doubles draw — Rohan Bopanna — and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov will take on Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin of the United States in the first round.