Tommy Haas edges past Somdev Devvarman into second round – If Stockholm Open 2011
Getting through to the main draw of the tournament by a wildcard, former world number two, Tommy Haas of Germany secured victory against the unseeded Indian, Somdev Devvarman, in the first round of the If Stockholm Open on Monday.
33-year-old German veteran wounded up victory in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4, taking just one hour and twenty six minutes of play to make it to the second round of the APT (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
It was just the fifth world Tour-level victory for the German in the running season and the first one against Devvarman in singles encounters. The unseeded Indian fought very well in the opener but lost a couple of crucial points in the decider to let Haas one up in the contest. Once getting the opening set in his bag, the German cruised through the following set to seal a comprehensive victory and got through to the round of 16 at the If Stockholm Open.
Haas delivered just 55 per cent of his serve on target but dropped merely four points on it to take down his opponent. Seven cracking aces were recorded from the German side, while Devvarman also struck five to follow him. The Indian converted just one of his four break opportunities in the matchup, while suffering two out of seven break point conversions from his opponent to lose the competition in the end.
No serve breaks were witnessed in the opening set of the match, with Haas squandering away four vital chances to remain on even terms with his opponent. A regular game took the scores to 6-6 to enforce a tie breaker round in the contest. The decider also went on neck-to-neck, with both contestants straining hard to get the upper hand in the contest but it was the German wildcard entrant who converted some crucial opportunities in the tie breaker to wrap up the first set to his name at 7-6(4).
The German finally registered the first serve break of the day in the second set to lead 2-0 early. Another trade of break points was seen in the eighth and ninth game of the set before Haas closed out the contest at 6-4 to clear the first round.
Haas will either take on the fifth seeded South African, Kevin Anderson, or the unseeded Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in the second round to fight for a berth in the quarter-finals of the If Stockholm Open. Anderson and Garcia-Lopez will go one-on-one against each other on Tuesday afternoon and the winner will take on Haas in the second round.
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