Somdev advances, Bopanna crashes out of Tashkent challenger
By IANSMonday, October 12, 2009
TASHKENT - Seventh-seeded Indian Somdev Devvarman beat Spanish player Gillermo Olaso 6-3, 6-2 while compatriot Rohan Bopanna went down to Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-4, 6-2 in the $125,000 Tashkent challenger tennis opening round.
It turned out to be a one-sided affair for Somdev. He broke Olaso in the sixth game of the match in the first set and in the third and the seventh games of the second set. The Indian next plays the winner of the match between Latvian Deniss Pavlovs and Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev.
In the other match Sunday, Indian wildcard Bopanna was broken by Lu in the seventh game of the first set and then twice in the second set.
“I was extremely focused and am happy that I served well and played an all round game,” said Lu, the title holder of the event.
“It’s very difficult to play the first round of any event. Playing against a player like Bopanna in the first round is tougher, but Im happy with the way I played.”
Lu and Bopanna will now pair up for the doubles event where they are ranked second.
