New Delhi: India's Divij Sharan and his doubles partner Artem  Sitak started off their Australian Open campaign in emphatic fashion registering a clinical win in their opening round at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbounre. The Indian-Kiwi duo got past their rivals P Carreno Busta and J Sousa in straight sets, winning the encounter with the scoreline reading 6-4,7-5.


Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak will face the winner of the 1st-round match between 10th seeds Mate Pavio-Bruno Soares and Ben Molachlan and Luke Bambridge.

Sharan and Sitak came into the Australian open at the back of a quarterfinal appearance in the ATP 250 Auckland Open.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and his Japanese partner Yasutaka Uchiyama will be taking on 13th seeded American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.In the women's doubles, Sania Mirza and Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine will take on Chinese combination of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu in the opening round.

It was curtains to India's challenge in men's singles as top-ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost his opening round match to Japanese wild card Tatsuma Ito 6-4 6-2 7-5 . The highest ranked Indian missed out on a chance to play against world no.2 Novak Djokovic.