Somdev Devvarman beats Mikhail Kukushkin; cruises through the opening round of the Serbia Open
World number 71 Somdev Devvarman of India outplayed his Kazakh opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round of the Serbia Open at Belgrade, Serbia on Tuesday. He overcame the 65th ranked Kukushkin in a three-set matchup
1-6, 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and fourteen minutes to advance to the second round of the clay-court tournament.
In the contest being played at the Tennis Center Novak complex, Devvarman displayed his brilliant tennis skills to win the game after dropping the first set in a humiliating manner. The 26-year-old Indian held his serve in just
one game in the opener, while suffering two serve breaks to lose the set. He made a tremendous comeback in the match by winning the second set and then nabbed the third one as well to clear the opening round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 event. It was the 12th victory for Devvarman in the current year and one of the crucial one as well.
The Kazakh competitor was led down by his bleak serve and plenty of unforced errors. Kukushkin constructed 13 break opportunities in the matchup but converted just five of them, in contrast to his opponent who cashed in six of
fourteen break chances in the game. After a assertive start to the contest, Kukushkin lost his steam in the second set and then slumped further in the third to lose the contest in the end.
The Indian took his time to get settled in the game and by the time he got his eye in the game, Kukushkin was serving for the set at 5-1. The Kazakh was very quick to pinch two serve breaks and seal the opening set at 6-2 to get
ahead of his opponent in the contest.
The crowd at Belgrade anticipated the similar kind of performance from the Kazakh in the following set by sheer brilliance of Devvarman prevented him from doing so. High quality intense tennis was observed in the second set, with
Kukushkin breaking twice and the Indian stinging four serve breaks to come on top of the game. The second set eventually fell to Devvarman’s name and he carried on the winning momentum to pressurise his opponent in the decisive set.
The Kazakh dropped his game significantly in the final set of the set and could hold serve in just of the game, while gifting away break points in the rest of the two games. Devvarman finally closed out the contest at 6-2 and books
a place in the second round, where he will be facing the third seed Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The Spaniard received a bye into the second round of the tournament.
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