Leander Paes-Purav Raja lift JSM Champaign Challenger trophy

Leander Paes and Purav Raja won their second title together after joining forces as they lifted the JSM Champaign Challenger trophy with a thrilling win over Ruan Roelofse and Joe Salisbury.

The top-seeded Indian team battled past the British-South African combination 6-3, 7-6(5), 10-5 in the final of the USD 75000 hard court event, last night.

It was second title-clash for Paes and Raja after joining forces since August, when they teamed up to compete at ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open.

It was fifth Challenger title of the season for Paes, having won events at Leon and Ilkley with Canadian Adil Shamasdin, Tallahassee trophy with American Scott Lipsky and Knoxville Challenger with Raja just a week back.

Paes also made a number of semifinals at ATP 250 level and has not lost a final this season.

Raja before teaming up with Paes had won Bordeaux Challenger with Divij Sharan and also made the final of the ATP 250 Chennai Open with the Delhi left-hander.

Last week Raja told that he has learnt a lot during this short partnership with Paes so far.

"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.

(With inputs from PTI)