Commonwealth Games, Somdev Devvarman advances to tennis semi final
The top seeded Indian, Somdev Devvarman, advances into the men’s singles tennis competition at the Commonwealth Games as he successfully made his way into the semi final round with a two setter victory over Rubin Statham from New Zealand on Thursday. The
final match score was 6-3 6-4.
After a comfortable victory over his Sri Lankan tennis opponent, Amresh Jayawickreme, in the previous round in New Delhi, the top seeded India had to do a lot of hard work as the local favourite was given a hard time by the sixth seeded Kiwi on Thursday.
It was a tough battled victory for the World number ninety-seven in contrast to his forty-one minute win a day earlier in New Delhi. He had to fight for an hour and forty-two minutes versus his foe, who is currently ranked number 353 in the World by the
Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
As a result of this victory, Devvarman has successfully maintained his all win record versus Rubin having defeated him in their sole previous encounter as well. The victory came back in 2008 at the qualifying rounds of the Lexington Challenger in the United
States of America.
Devvarman was a lot more aggressive and sharp with his strokes. However, Rubin also fought quite well and didn’t give up till the end.
The Kiwi targeted the Indian's backhand with the help of his blistering forehand. But Somdev returned him even more aggressively.
In a couple of service breaks, Devvarman bounced back on two occasions from behind to win the opening set although he had the first opportunity to go ahead.
A forehand winner first helped the Indian to tie the scores at 2-2 and another one placed him well ahead of his opponent at 4-2.
He missed his serve during the seventh game on a forehand error. However, broke back quickly and successfully served out the set with the help of an ace following a forty-six minute intense battle.
Rubin was attempting too hard, resulting in a couple of unforced errors and one such forehand cost the Kiwi the first game of the decisive set on Thursday. In anger, Rubin smashed his racquet on the court and he never bounced back from the early setback
in New Delhi.
Devvarman missed out on three match points during the seventh game when leading 5-1 and dropped his serve during the eighth, making the local fans jittery. But at last served out the clash in the tenth game on Thursday.
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