Somdev Devvarman retires against Denis Kudla in the quarterfinal – Charlottesville Challenger 2011
Top seeded Indian Somdev Devvarman retired in the third set with an injury and threw down the gauntlet against American wildcard entrant Denis Kudla in the quarterfinal of the Charlottesville Challenger 2011.
On Thursday the 3rd of November 2011, the two rivals took up swords on indoor hard courts of the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. After a quick one hour and thirty five minutes Devvarman retired from the match
with a 3-6, 6-3, 1-2 score.
Kicking off the first round of the match was Kudla and he got off to a great start as he managed to skilfully bag two consecutive games by capitalizing on a break point to place himself on the scoreboard at 2-0. However in the
third game, Devvarman made a return by breaking back and eventually tied the score at 2-2 with a hold of serve at the end of the fourth game.
Kudla once more squandered two games with a hold of serve and then by capitalizing on a break point in the sixth game. In the next two games the players broke each other back-to-back but Kudla was leading the match with a hold
of serve and break, to go up in the set.
By the end of the eighth game the score had progressed to 5-3 and Kudla was now only a game away. As he served for the set, he smashed a marvellous backhand winner down the T and clogged the opening set with a 6-3 victory.
Opening the second set was Devvarman and both the players managed to successfully hold their serves and p-laced themselves on the scoreboard at 1-1. Top seed Indian again held his serve in the third game and broke his adversary
in the fourth to take a mini lead of 3-1.
However, Kudla made a return by breaking back and with hold serve, he mitigated the deficit at the end of the sixth game. The top seeded Indian then managed to hold his serve in the seventh game and by utilizing the break-serve
method; he scooped two games to clog the second set with a 6-3 victory.
By the end of the first two sets each player had bagged a set each and opening the third set was Kudla and both the players held their respective serves to place themselves at 1-1.
However, Devvarman felt a sharp pain from an ongoing right shoulder injury and after a medical examination, decided he could play the third set but soon after the third game, the pain became unbearable and he decided it was best
if he did not carry on and retired, handing the match to Kudla.
Next up for Kudla is British lucky loser Alex Bogdanovic in the semi final of the tournament.
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