Somdev Devvarman blows away Tatsuma Ito to reach the quarters – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
World number 68, Somdev Devvarman of India, devastated the unseeded Japanese competitor, Tatsuma Ito, in the second round of Atlanta Tennis Championships, being played in Atlanta, the United States, on Thursday afternoon.
Being part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event, the contest featured a brilliant display of sheer dominance from the Indian contestant, who registered a straight sets victory over Ito by settling
the final scores at 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the quarter-final draws of the tournament. Devvarman took 61 minutes of play to dispose of the unseeded Japanese from the Championships and made his way to the round of eight of the tournament.
Devvarman appeared in a ballistic form throughout the contest and was extremely proficient with bagging serve points. The eighth seeded Indian amazingly secured all the 21 first serve points in the matchup to get the better of
his opponent and backed up his aggression with a rock solid baseline defence to avoid Ito nailing winners down the line.
The Japanese was off to a poor start in the opening set and appeared in all sorts of confusion write from the beginning. Devvarman delivered just 56 per cent of his serve on target but collected 10 out of 10 first serve points
to get the upper hand in the opener. The Indian was equally good with his return game in the contest and his strong serve remained unbroken in the entire contest.
The eighth seeded Indian nailed the first serve break of the day in the very first game of the match and got the required impetus from there onwards to cruise through the set. The Japanese held serve in just one game and suffered
another break point from his opponent in the fifth game to surrender the opening set in a humiliating manner at 1-6.
Some signs of life were seen in Ito in the following set early, when he held his serve in the opening three games to keep the score board ticking on equal terms but tide turned with two cracking serve breaks from Devvarman, who
rocketed away to victory at 6-3 with ease. His triumph earned him a place in the quarter-finals of Atlanta Tennis Championships, where he will face the world number nine, Mardy Fish of the United States for a place in the semi-finals. The top seeded Fish was
successful against Nicolas Mahut of France in the second round of the tournament.
Tags: