The Hindu : Sport : Fognini packs off Somdev Varman

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Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
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Sport

Fognini packs off Somdev Varman

Nandakumar Marar

Nicholas Devilder edges out Rohan Bopanna

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

PREVAILING: Italy’s Fabio Fognini beat back Somdev Varman’s challenge on Wednesday.

MUMBAI: Rains forced a frequent move from switch-off to switch-on mode for the tennis pros at the Kingfisher Airlines Open here making it an endless waiting game. Lleyton Hewitt is slated to take on Chinese Taipiei qualifier Chen Ti on the Centre Court.

Somdev Varman was leading 5-4 in the second set, after losing the first set 3-6 against Fabio Fognini. But the Indian did not close out the set though he managed to force a tie-break.

The Italian changed gears to send a couple of thundering aces as the young Indian appeared overawed by the situation and fell short on the big points. A couple of errors was enough to have Fognini closing out the set and match.

Costly errors

India’s second wildcard entry in the Globosport-organised event lost in one hour and 34 minutes. “I ran him close but a few errors proved costly. I need to get better to be competitive at this level. I also need to return harder and deeper,” said Somdev, about the singles first round tie, played over two days due to rain interruptions.

He fired forehands down both flanks, moved with purpose and played long rallies, attracting vocal support from the fans. Fognini foxed Somdev by mixing his shots and playing sliced deep backhands.

The Italian pounced on every weak return in an entertaining tie-breaker, leaving Somdev scrambling along the baseline. Fognini next faces top seed Richard Gasquet.

Rohan Bopanna made his exit on Tuesday night, edged out by Nicholas Devilder 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(9). The big-serving Indian began well in the first set serving four aces as he went on to close out the set.

But he could not build on the good start. Sensing his chance, Devilder went on the offensive and helped by Bopanna’s errors won the second 6-3.

Rain forced a break in the decider with the latter up 4-3 in the tie-breaker. When play resumed he could not hammer home the advantage.

The results:

Singles (first round): Jarkko Niminen (Fin) bt Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) 6-7 (5), 6-1, 2-0 (retd.); Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) bt Navdeep Singh (Ind) 6-4, 7-6(7); Nicholas Devilder (Fra) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(9).

Yen Lu (Tpe) bt Jiri Vanek (Cze) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4; Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Somdev Varman (Ind) 6-3, 7-6(8).

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