Somdev stuns Chiudinelli enters 2nd round : Dubai Open

The Indian tennis ace Somdev defeated ATP 52 ranked M. Chiudinelli of Switzerland in the first round of Dubai Open 2010. Devvarman played impressive tennis and won the match in straight sets 6-4,7-5 in just 80 minutes. The Indian ace won 76% of the service points and played some impressive ground strokes. Somdev entered the tournament as qualifier and had played two games before the first round, the qualifying round provided good practice for the main draw. In 2nd round Somdev meets a ex top 10 ranked and 2006 Australian open runners-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis is back after the long spell due to injury and is playing excellent tennis. Somdev needs to play is best tennis to win against the Cyprot who defeated 8th seed Simon Giles of France

Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhly reached to quarter-final at Dubai Open in doubles. Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Boppana and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will play against Paes and Dlouhly if they win in pre-quarterfinal stage. 

After Dubai Open, Somdev will play in Davis Cup for India at Moscow against Russia.

Somdev to play in Serbia for ATP Challenger after turning 25

The top seeded Indian singles tennis player Somdev Devvarman turned 25 on 13th Feb. Somdev received numerous birthday wishes on his 25th birthday at his twitter account. At present he is in Serbia to play ATP Challenger event in Belgrade. Somdev is seeded 8th at the event and is going to play against Serbian Wild Card Krajinovic Filip. The top favorite for the tournament is Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who is seeded no. 1 (ATP # 37) at the event. Janko defeated Somdev in the second round of Chennai Open earlier this year. Somdev has good chance to reach the final and avenge the defeat at his home town, which is of course hercules task for Somdev, but not impossible. Somdev is not going to meet another seeded player till the quarterfinal and has good opportunity to gain valuable ATP points, if all goes well. In the quarter final he may meet Kukushkin Mikhail of Kazakhstan, who is seeded 3rd and is ranked 122 in ATP ranking, If Somdev wins the quarter-final, he will meet 2nd seeded Golubev Andrev another Kazak player (ATP # 106).  Hope Somdev wins the tournament and defeat Janko in the final.

Tournament : GEMAX OPEN
Location : Belgrade, Serbia
ATP Challenger Event

Points to be awarded: Winner : 125, Finalist: 75, Semifinalist : 45, Quarter finalist : 25, Round 2 : 10


The top seeded players 

1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
2) Golubev Andrev (KAZ)
3) Kukushkin Mikhail (KAZ)
4) Koubek Stefan (AUT)
5) Phou Bjorn (GER)
6) Brown Dustin (JAM)
7) Beck, Karol (SVK)
8) Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Good Luck Somdev

Somdev loses in quarter-final of Johannesburg, SA

Somdev Devvarman reached to quarter final at his second ATP tournament of 2010 at Johannesburg, SA, one step ahead of Chennai Open 2010, where he lost in second round. The Indian sensation defeated higher rank Xavier Malisse (ATP # 93) of Belgium in the first round in straight set 6-4, 6-2. In Second round he won against T. Alves of Brazil in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Somdev couldn't continue the momentum going against Top 20 ranked ATP player David Ferrer of Spain, who was seeded 2nd at the event. Somdev lost in straight set against Ferrer in 6-1,6-3. Somdev needs to raise his game against Top 40 ranked player in order to be among the top 50 player of the world, which Somdev is targeting to be by year end. Nevertheless, Somdev earned valuable 45 ATP points by reaching to quarter-final at the event, which will raise his ranking a notch above. Somdev needs to maintain the consisting in order to cross the Top 100 barrier. Somdev was close to Top 100 ranking at the beginning of the year, however was relegated to ATP # 161 after loosing early at Chennai Open and unable to qualify at Australian Open Main event.