ATP Challengers: Somdev, Amritraj crash out in first round

India’s Somdev Devvarman bowed out in the first round of the ATP Tallahassee Challenger clay court tournament being played at the Forest Meadows Tennis Complex in Tallahassee, Florida, United States.

The country’s highest ranked men’s singles player lost in straight sets to 20-year-old American Denis Kudla 6-7(4), 4-6.

Somdev played a gripping opening set against the 142nd ranked American, but the latter had the last laugh in the tie-break.

The 184th ranked Indian kept plugging away in the second set, but the seventh-seeded Kudla served solidly and broke the former’s serve when it mattered to win the set 6-4 to romp into the quarterfinals.

This was Kudla’s third win over Somdev in four head-to-head meetings.

Earlier, the American had beaten Somdev at the 2012 Legg Mason Tennis Classic tournament as well as at the 2011 Charlottesville ATP Challenger when the Indian retired hurt in the third set.

Somdev’s only win over Kudla came at the 2010 ATP Charlottesville Challenger.

It may be pertinent to mention that Somdev had surged twenty-one spots in recent weeks, following a praiseworthy semifinal finish in the ATP Sarasota Challenger clay court tennis tournament, held in Florida, USA.

Somdev got the better of two higher-ranked players en route to the men’s singles semifinals, where he was shown the championship exit door by eventual champion American Alex Kuznetsov of USA.

The Indian had conquered 93rd ranked Jesse Levine of Canada in the first round before accounting for 152nd ranked German Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinals.

The Indian, who went into the ATP Sarasota Challenger with an ATP ranking of 205, is on a comeback trail after a serious shoulder injury put him out of action for more than nine months in 2012.

Sondev has been regularly taking part in ATP events only since late last year. He had reached a career-high ATP ranking of 62 in July 2011.

He recently locked horns with world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round of the Miami Masters and lost in straight sets to the Serb.

Somdev later atoned for his semifinal defeat in the men’s singles semifinals by winning the men’s doubles crown, partnering Serbian Ilija Bozoljac, outduelling the American pair of Steve Johnson and Bradley Klahn in an intriguing clash.

Meanwhile, India’s Prakash Amritraj crashed out in the first round of the ATP Johannesburg Challenger. The 364th ranked Indian lost to Croatia’s 361st ranked Mate Pavic in three sets 7-6, 4-6, 4-6.

Two other Indians also bit the dust. 447th ranked Divij Sharan lost to Canada’s 131st ranked Vasek Pospisil 2-6, 4-6 in the first round, while Purav Raja lost to South Africa’s Jean Andersen 3-6, 4-6.

However, in the men’s doubles category, Prakash, partnering American Rajeev Ram, reached the quarterfinals, beating the Brazilian pair of Thiago Alves/Augusto Laranja 6-1, 6-3.

They now play the top-seeded South African-Brazilian pair of Rik De Voest and Marcelo Demoliner.