Somdev, Bopanna bite the dust in first round

The tall Kodava had scripted India’s fairytale win in the Davis Cup play-off against Brazil vanquishing Ricardo Mello in the decisive match. A wild card recipient at this year’s Chennai Open, the 29-year-old walked in to a huge roar by an expectant crowd at the Centre Court but at the end of just over an hour’s match, their voices had been silenced. 

Shortly after Bopanna’s exit on Tuesday evening, came a bigger shock for the home fans when their best hope Somdev Devvarman was knocked out in straight sets by Belgian David Goffin. Having failed to progress beyond the first round in doubles with Sanam Singh on Monday, Somdev was way below his best against the qualifier. Right from the first game when Goffin came up with two backhand down-the-line winners to break Somdev’s serve, he maintained an aggressive approach that seemed to have caught the highest-ranked Indian napping. After surrendering the opening set 2-6, the 25-year-old did raise his game in the second but it was too little and too late as Goffin clinched it 4-6 to claim the match.

 “I don’t think I played well enough today,” admitted Somdev who lost in the second round last year. “First match of the season and I felt a bit shaky. I was hitting the ball well during practice but what counts is what you do in the match,” remarked Somdev whose campaign here came to a pre-mature end in the $4,50,000 event.

Riding on hope and home support, Bopanna did give a good account of himself against his more accomplished opponent Stanislas Wawrinka, hustling the Swiss with his thunderbolt serves and forehand winners. But the effort wasn’t good enough to put it across last year’s finalist, who emerged a 6-4, 6-4 victor to advance to the second round.
 The day had begun on a disappointing note for the hosts as Yuki Bhambri, another wild card entrant, had gone down without as much of a whimper against Russian Alexandre Kudryavstev. In a limp performance, the Delhi lad was handed a 2-6, 1-6 lashing in just 50 minutes which means Indian challenge in singles is over.

 Top seed Tomas Berdych, meanwhile, produced the most clinical performance of the meet so far, whipping past a hapless Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-0, 6-1 in just over 40 minutes to book his place in the second round where he is up against Croatia’s Ivan Dodig. 

After Yuki’s forgettable show, all hopes were firmly pinned on Bopanna pulling off an upset. The Bangalorean began on a promising note holding his serve in the first game. He matched the third seed stroke for stroke and even out-served him, but failed to seize key moments. In the entire match, Wawrinka had five break points and he converted two while Bopanna failed to do so in his two chances which made a telling difference to the outcome of the match.

 After a well-fought first set, Bopanna got off to a bad start in the second losing his serve. Wawrinka capitalised on the break to run a 3-1 lead and appeared headed for an early dinner. Bopanna, however, wasn’t going to make it easy for his rival.

Results (Singles 1st round, prefix denotes seedings): Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Yuki Bhambri (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; 1-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Frederico Gil (Por) 6-0, 6-1; 3-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) 6-1, 6-3; Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Marsel Ilhan (Tur) 6-3, 6-1; Robin Haase (Ned) bt Frank Dancevic (Can) 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-4; Alejandro Falla (Col) bt Rui Machado (Por) 7-5, 6-3; David Goffin (Bel) bt Somdev Devvarman (Ind) 6-2, 6-4; Blaz Kavcic (Slo) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 6-3, 6-2; Yuichi Sugita (Jap) bt Dustin Brown (Ger) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Doubles (1st round): Simone Bolelli (Ita)/ Janko Tipservic (Ser) bt Divij Sharan/Vishnu Vardhan (Ind); Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig (Cro) bt Leos Friedl (Cze)/ Jordan Kerr (Aus) 6-0, 7-5.