Somdev Devvarman loses hard-fought first round contest in Wimbledon 2013 qualifiers

Indian tennis ace Somdev Devvarman lost an epic encounter lasting almost 4 hours to Australian Matt Reid 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 16-18 in the first round of the Wimbledon 2013 qualifiers.

The match started well for the Indian as he raced to a 3-0 lead. However, the Australian world number 213 fought his way back and took the set to a tie break, which he eventually won 7-4. The second set was on serve till the ninth game, when Devvarman found the decisive break and took the 2nd set 6-4. The Indian then continued his momentum from the 2^nd set into the decider to break Reid in the first game. However, Devvarman got broken back when he was serving for the match at 5-4.With no final set tie breaks at Wimbledon, the match continued on with both players holding their respective service games. As the match moved past the 3 hour mark, both players had still not achieved the 2 game advantage that was required to win the match. The match was now a battle of endurance between the players. Finally though, the pressure of serving second got to the Indian as he was broken in the 34^th game, losing the final set 18-16.

Reid will now play Israeli world number 218 Amir Weintraub in the 2^nd round of qualifiers.

Meanwhile, the 4^th seeded Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan will start their doubles qualification campaign against the combination of Flavio Cipolla and Wayne Odesnik.