Maybe Scott Lipsky of the U.S. and Indian Divij Sharan should play together more often. In their first ATP World Tour tournament together, Lipsky/Sharan won the European Open in Antwerp, beating Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta of Chile 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 in Sunday's final.
Two weeks ago, Lipsky/Sharan reached the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and they raised their level in Belgium, especially in the big moments. The American/Indian pairing won all four matches in Match Tie-breaks.
“It was a great match. Those are two great friends of ours, so we're happy to get through. It was fun to play against them,” Lipsky said.
Lipsky improved to 16-12 in tour-level doubles finals for his career. Sharan improved to 3-1.
“It was a great experience, playing here. It's my first time in Belgium so I really enjoyed it,” Sharan said. “We had a great time on court. We played four very good matches so we're really happy.”
The champions will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €31,910 in prize money.
Gonzalez/Peralta were playing together for the third consecutive week and posted another good result. They also made the semi-finals in Tokyo and the quarter-finals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.
Gonzalez was playing in his 20th career final (11-9) and was trying to extend his ATP World Tour title streak to eight consecutive years. Peralta was trying to win his fifth career tour-level doubles title (4-4). They will receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €16,780 in prize money.