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Devvarman bucks the trend

Nandita Sridhar

Qualifier Cipolla stuns Wawrinka; Bopanna loses

— Photo: R. Ragu

EFFICIENT DISPLAY: Somdev Devvarman gave the local supporters something to cheer for when he defeated Kevin Kim of USA at the Chennai Open on Tuesday.

Chennai: Very few young Indian tennis players experience the highs of an ATP Tour match win at home. Somdev Devvarman refused to conform to Indian tennis’ inherent weaknesses.

Devvarman was expected to fight, but the ease was an irreverential defiance of what one has come to expect of Indian tennis. The Indian won 6-3, 6-3 against American Kevin Kim in the first round of the Chennai Open ATP tennis tournament at the Nungambakkam Stadium on Tuesday.

Later in the evening, whatever charitable intentions Flavio Cipolla had in the first set against Stanislas Wawrinka was quickly dismissed in the second.

Second seed Wawrinka failed to make use of the redeeming opportunities on offer in the end of the first set, in his first round match. Cipolla upset the second seed 6-4, 6-1.

In the Kim-Devvarman encounter, the former broke the Indian in the fifth game, the only leeway he was allowed. Somdev’s game lacked a particular weapon, making it harder to discern flaws and construct breakthroughs. Kim was himself unsteady and guilty of flawed approaches.

Secure service

Devvarman’s serve was in many ways, a significant manifestation of his game. The service motion was secure — in no way screaming for attention — the forcefulness understated and the placement uncompromised by either.

“My goal was to make him work hard. It wasn’t as easy at it looked. There were a lot of times when he had chances to go ahead, but he couldn’t convert them. I was more comfortable in the second set. I was serving a lot more better,” said Devvarman.

Kim fritted away his break in the next game itself. Devvarman made the American pay for some of his approaches with well executed passing shots.

Kim was forced into being the more impatient of the two, after Devvarman chose to proactively control the rallies, even if it did seem like he was waiting for mistakes.

The most interesting aspect of his game was his ability to close out breakpoints and sets.

The natural course of events would’ve been nervy misses, toying with elementary skills and cringing at the prospect of glory.

But Devvarman proved an impressive front-runner. Devvarman served 10 aces while Kim had none. The Indian produced 17 winners to Kim’s 16.

Familiar course

Earlier, Rohan Bopanna followed the more familiar course, playing well enough to raise hopes, but faltering on the big points.

Bopanna gave the stage too much respect, going for more than what one would’ve liked to see. He lost to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-4, 7-6(3) in the first round.

Bopanna’s biggest chance was in the second set when he managed a break soon enough. He was broken immediately, but did well for a set-point opportunity at 6-5. Istomin’s second serve was given undue respect, and the return was feeble.

A double fault in the tie-break was an inauspicious beginning. Istomin served impeccably to close it out, giving away just three points.

Bopanna’s volleys didn’t have enough in them to deny Istomin the open court. When he did have the chance,he gave it too much.

The results (1st round):

Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Daniel Koellerer (Aut) 6-2, 6-3; Somdev Devvarman (Ind) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 6-3, 6-3; Andreas Beck (Ger) bt Roko Karanusic (Cro) 6-1, 6-0; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Rajiv Ram (USA) 6-4, 6-3; Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) 6-4, 7-6(3).

Ivo Minar (Cze) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 6-3, 6-0; Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Pablo Andujar (Esp) 6-3, 6-2; Marcel Granollers (Esp) bt Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) 6-4, 7-5; Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (first round): Rogier Wassen (Ned) & Lovro Zovko (Cro) bt Alberto Martin (Esp) & Dudi Sela (Isr) 6-3, 6-1; Marcel Granollers (Esp) & Santiago Ventura (Esp) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Esp)& Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Esp) 6-4, 6-2.

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