Auckland, Jan 15 (PTI) Divij Sharan and his partner Artem Sitak shocked top seeds John Peers and Michael Venus in two close sets to move to the quarterfinals of the ATP ASB Classic, here on Wednesday.

The Indo-Kiwi pair edged out the Australian-Kiwi pair 7-6 (4) 7-6(3) in the opening round of the USD 610,010 hard court tournament, the last in run up to the Australian Open, season's first Grand Slam.

Left-handed Sharan and Sitak next face Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, who got a walk over from Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa.

Also moving to the last-eight stage were third seeds Rohan Bopanna from India and Finland's Henri Kontinen, who beat wild card entrants Cameron Norrie and Rhett Purcell 6-4 6-2.

They are now up against Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)