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.

Somdev exits from Australian Open 2010 Qualifier

Somdev, the top ranked Indian tennis player lost in the third and final round of the Australian Open qualifier. He lost against Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic (ATP # 126), who was seeded 12th in the event in two straight sets 3-6, 6-7. Somdev was seeded 27 and is currently ranked at 161. Earlier Somdev defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany with 2-6,6-1,8-6 in three sets in round 2 and James Duckworth of Australia in round one with 6-1,6-2 score.

Other Indian tennis players Prakash Amritraj and Yuki Bhambri also lost thus ending Indian challenge in the men singles event. Prakash lost in round 2 and Yuki lost in the first round. Somdev's Compatriot whom Somdev defeated in the NCAA finals (US Collegiate event) has risen to ATP # 38 rank and will be competing for the ATP title at Auckland. Isner has shown consistency in his game, which Somdev seems to be lacking. Somdev needs to consistently beat top ranked player to be among the top 50 players.

Somdev to compete in qualifier for Austrailan Open 2010

Somdev Devvarman competes against local lad James Duckworth (AUS)  in the qualifying round for the 2010 Australian Open. This is Somdev's first Australian Open. Devvarman is currently ranked at 161 and need to put a consistent effort to improve is ranking. Somdev lost early at the ATP Chennai Open against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the 2nd Round. Somdev was runners' up last year at ATP Chennai and thus had good number points which got dropped because of his early exit this year.

The other Indian players participating at Australian Open are Yuki Bhambri (ATP #330) competing against Jan Minar (ATP# 245) of Ukrian and Prakash Amritraj against Andre Begemann of Germany. Apart from this, other regular player Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes, and Sania Mirza will be participating in the main draw.










                                       Yuki Bhambri

Janko Tipsarevic

Somdev Ready to Rock 2010 with Chennai Open

Devvarman, known as Bujji by his friends, will begin 2010 season with Chennai ATP Open. He is defending runners-up for Chennai ATP Open. Last Year he lost against Marian Cilic in the final before defeating top ranked players like Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic. 2009 was good year for Somdev, he qualified for US Open and reached to 2nd Round. His Ranking rose to 126 and with his solid efforts India reached to Davis Cup finals Group after 11 years of break.

Somdev got Wild Card for Chennai Open and will be playing against Rainer Schuettler in the first round. The Other Indian players participating in the tournaments are Rohan Bopana (Wild Card), Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and any other Qualifiers who succeed in the Qualifying tournament.






ATP Chennai Open Draw link

Top Ranked  at 2010 ATP Chennai Open

1) Robin Soderling (SWE),  2) Marian Cilic (CRO),  3) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)


4)  Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) , 5) Dudi Sela (ISR),  6) Simon Gruel (GER)


7) Michael Berrer (GER), 8) Rajeev Ram (USA)

Somdev wraps up 2009 year on high note

Somdev Devvarman, the numero-uno Indian tennis sensation ended 2009 season on high note. He started the year by reaching the final of ATP Chennai  (his home town) Open 2009 en route defeating top players like Carlos Moya, and Ivo Karlovic. He started the year at ATP #209 and so far has reached to ATP #126 (ATP# 116 -highest career ranking).

Major Success of 2009

Grand Slam : Somdev participated in Wimbledon (Doubles) and US Open 2009. Though he lost in the
the first round of Wimbledon Doubles, He reached to 2nd round of US Open Singles. He didn't qualify for Australian and French Open.

Davis Cup : Somdev Played for India in Davis Cup against South Africa and Taiwan. India won both the ties defeating Taiwan with 3-2 and South Africa with 4-1. Somdev won both singles against South Africa and Taiwan. Somdev's super efforts put India into World Group after 11 years of gap. India will play against Russia for the first World group match in Russia.

ATP Challenger : Somdev participated in various ATP Challenger events reaching quarters of Seoul Open and final of Charlottesville Challenger.

ATP Tournament : Somdev reached third round of Legg Mason Classic en-route defeating Marian Cilic in the 2nd round.

The year 2010 will bring more success to Somdev's and hopefully he will become the Top 50 Player in the world.

Somdev Lost but won hearts at Charlottesville Challenger Final

Somdev, the top seed Indian Tennis sensation, who was seeded 3rd at Charlottesville Challenger Open Lost in the final to 2nd Seed and 87 ranked Kevin Kim of USA 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-4. Somdev had earlier defeated Kim at Chennai Open, however, he was unable to repeat the same performance at Charlottesville. Post semi-final win against Ryan Sweeting, which Somdev won 6-4,4-6,6-2, when Somdev was reminded of his win against Kim at Chennai Open, He responded, “It was completely different conditions — hot, outdoors, bouncy courts, Here, it’s fast, indoors. It’s completely
different conditions. But I’m looking forward to a good match". As promised he was able to produce good match, however not enough good to make it a win.Nonetheless, his gritty play won many hearts as he was able produce excellent game, dropping his serve only twice and winning the second set in the tie breaker 8-6. Kevin Kim who defeated Donald Young in the semi-final with 6-2,7-5 scoreline and had to play three-setter against Sanam Singh previous day was able to maintain its momentum going. Devvarman earned 45 ATP points and $4,240 as Runners-up of the event, probably this will put him in Top 100 or close to Top 100, when the rankings will release on Monday.Somdev was excited when he got a chance to play at Charlottesville, VA as a professional player as he studied at University of Virginia and lives here, so in a way it is home away from home and would have been more happy, had he won the tournament.

Roger Federer, the number one seed and defending champion at Basel ATP open, also lost against Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4,4-6,6-2 in the final and had to contend with Runners-up.