Somdev tides over Del Potro

India number one Somdev Devvarman recorded the biggest win of his career by beating world number five Juan Martin Del Potro but the victory came when the Argentine retired mid-way into the first round match of the Dubai Duty Free Championships here on Tuesday.

Somdev, ranked 78, had won the first set 7-6 (3) in an hour and seven minutes and immediately after this, Del Potro took a medical timeout due to pain in his left wrist.
The Argentine second seed found it tough to continue and conceded the match.
In a later match, Serbian ace Novak Djokovic brushed aside Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3 to move into second round.

Somdev had lost 4-6, 4-6 to Del Potro last year at this very event in the pre-quarterfinals.

This is Somdev’s first ever win against a top-5 player who is also a Grand Slam champion. Del Potro is the 2009 US Open winner.

Before today’s match, his one of the biggest wins were against Croatia’s Marin Cilic (world number 15) and Ivo Karlovic (world number 25) in 2009 and against Cyprus’ world number 22 Marcos Baghdatis (world number 22) in 2010.

The Indian traded a break with Del Potro before pushing the match into tie-breaker. He kept hitting it on the backhand of the Argentine, inducing unforced errors from his rival. Somdev next plays Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri for a place in the third round.
Roger Federer, meanwhile, began the second phase of what he hopes will be a revival of his fortunes by racing into the second round on Monday.

In the process, he displayed some care-free hitting, lively footwork, and an air of authority which evoked his greatest days.

In beating Benjamin Becker, the German once ranked in the top 40, 6-1, 6-4, Federer looked pleasingly upbeat and confident as he dispatched a competent middle-range opponent in only 62 minutes.

Bops-Qureshi advance

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi progressed to the doubles quarterfinals after overcoming qualifiers Nikolay Davydenko and Victor Hanescu via Super Tie breaker. The second seeded Indo-Pak pair defeated the Russian-Romanian combo 6-1 5-7 10-8 in one hour and 28 minutes in the opening round.  
Bopanna and Qureshi broke their rivals twice to run away with the opening set. However, Davydenko and Hanescu regrouped to break the second seeds twice in the second set to stretch the match to a Super Tie-Breaker.  
Agencies
Results (Singles, I round): Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 7-6(6), 6-4; 1-Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-3, 6-3; James Ward (Bri) bt Teymuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6); Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Ivan Dodig (Cro) 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 6-2; Somdev Devvarman (Ind) bt 2-Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 7-6(3), 0-0 (Del Potro retired); Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Michael Russell (US) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; 6-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Michal Przysiezny (Pol) 6-3, 6-4; Lukas Rosol (Cze) bt Daniel Brands (Ger) 7-6(4), 6-4; 3-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Marius Copil (Rom) 6-3, 6-4.