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An Indian spring is sweeping the idyllic coastal town of Sarasota in the sunny state of Florida. Somdev Devvarman enjoyed yet another straight set victory to progress to the semifinals of the $100,000 Sarasota Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event. Somdev overpowered the 152nd ranked Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 30 minutes of existential tennis.
The match contained several breaks of serve, as both men struggled to control their deliveries – Zverev was broken 5 times and the Indian lost serve twice. The first itself lasted almost an hour and featured a rapid exchange of breaks as both men fought for the right to control the match.
Eventually, it was Zverev who blinked most – winning less than half of his first serve points cost the German dearly as he was broken thrice by the 205th ranked Indian who edged the first set.
With his foot on the throat of the German, the Indian played a brilliant second set. Somdev saved both the break points he faced even as he broke his opponent twice to take command of the match and pave his path into the last four of this clay court event.
Somdev also cut down on extravagance – improving from making two double faults in the first set to three aces and a clean slate in the second set to ensure that the second set was a far more one sided affair.
It is the third victory this week for the Indian, who has made significant progress since the low in October last year when he was down at 733 on the rankings sheet. It is a good result for the Indian, who just last week lost in the first round at Houston to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-7(5), 0-6.
Somdev came from behind in the first round to oust Jesse Levine 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 before raising his game a notch against Ilija Bozoljac. Somdev reached the quarters with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Bozoljac.
In the semifinals, Somdev will take on Alex Kuznetsov. The American needed three sets to get past Steve Johnson 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in an hour and 47 minutes.
Meanwhile, Somdev is back on court with his doubles partner Bozoljac looking for a place in the finals against the third seeded duo of Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler. At the time of publishing this story, Somdev and Bozoljac were being constantly pushed on the back foot.
Somdev and Bozoljac were broken in the third game, but came back strongly to bring the set back on serve with a break in the sixth game. They are all square at 3-3 (match in progress)
