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India’s Somdev Devvarman routed Ryan Shane of the US 6-2, 6-0 to clinch the men’s singles crown of the McDonald’s Mid-Atlantic Open Clay Court Tennis Championships.
The 130th ranked Indian was at his clinical best overpowering the American in all departments of the game.
Somdev breached Shane’s serve early in the opening set to wrest the initiative and maintained a tight grip on the contest, effecting another break of serve to pocket the set at 6-2.
The American was guilty of committing numerous unforced errors, thus making things easy for Somdev. Shane kept clobbering the ball at the net in a bid to outsmart the Indian, but it proved detrimental to his aspirations.
Having won the opening set in emphatic fashion, Somdev had an extra spring in his stride, and showed more conviction in his groundstrokes as well as decisive net play as Shane was let down by his poor serve.
The Indian broke the American’s serve thrice and served solidly on his part to make a mincemeat of his opponent in the second set, bagging it at 6-0 in a ridiculously one-sided contest that lasted only 49 minutes.
Somdev took home a prize money of $7,000 for his efforts.
The Indian had also recently reached the semifinals of the ATP Winnetka Challenger tennis tournament, where he lost to 102nd ranked American Jack Sock 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (5).
Somdev earlier reached the semifinals of the ATP Nottingham challenger tournament. He also achieved a semifinal finish at the ATP Caltanissetta Challenger in Italy as well as a second round appearance at the French Open after going through the qualifying route.
In the second round of the French Open, which Somdev reached after defeating Spain’s 145th ranked Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, he lost to world number three Roger Federer.
The Indian had made the main draw after getting the better of 113th ranked American Wayne Odesnik in the final qualifying tie.
Somdev is on a comeback trail after a lingering shoulder injury consigned him to the sidelines for more than nine months in 2012.
He 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.
Earlier this year, he took on world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round of the Miami Masters and lost in straight sets to the Serb.
