New Delhi: India's ace tennis player Somdev Devvarman continued his golden run in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, setting up a fourth-round clash with World No. 1 Rafael Nadal after winning his third-round match here on Monday.
Somdev beat Xavier Malisse in a keenly contested match 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 to reach the fourth round.
The Indian No. 1 breezed past Malisse 6-1 in the first set but the latter recovered in the second set to win it 6-3.
Somdev, who is playing his third main draw here, was down 2-5 in the tie break when he reeled off five points to win the hard-fought match on Monday in two hours.
The 26-year-old India No. 1, ranked 84, who had never won a Masters 1000 match before coming here, beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and then upset 19th seed and World No. 22 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the first two rounds.
Nadal, whom Somdev will meet in the round of 16, had an easy passage into the fourth round after beating American qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-1 in a third-round match on Monday and also delayed the start of his post-match interview to watch the tiebreaker between Malisse and Devvarman to know who he will face in the fourth round.
(With inputs from agencies)
Comments
0 comment