The Hindu : Sport : Devvarman fells another giant

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Devvarman fells another giant

Nandita Sridhar

Marin Cilic downs Janko Tipsarevic to advance to the semifinals

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

MARCHING ON: Somdev Devvarman gladdened the hearts of an appreciative audience by beating Ivo Karlovic, and even acknowledged the role of raucous crowd support in his win.

Chennai: Having survived a flurry of aces to push the first set of his Chennai Open quarterfinal to a tie-break, Somdev Devvarman took a massive risk in the very first tie-break point.

With complete disregard for the Croatian’s six-foot ten-inch frame and his intrinsically unplayable serve, the Indian produced a subversive lob that floated over Karlovic. The ball landed inches within the baseline.

Shocked at conceding a mini-break, Karlovic managed just to hold his own serve while Devvarman made sure the advantage wasn’t wasted.

Deteriorating forehand

Karlovic’s forehand deteriorated when faced with the spin Devvarman generated. Thereafter, his groundstrokes collapsed. Devvarman won the tie-break 7-4 and took the next set 6-4 to enter the semifinal.

Karlovic’s game was inherently suited to Devvarman’s style. Compelled to serve and volley to compensate for his limited movement, Devvarman was perfectly positioned to pass the Croat consistently.

Devvarman’s serve, the understated brilliance of it, was allowed a better canvas on Friday. Karlovic’s lack of anticipation gave Devvarman the option of varying his serves and using it to avert danger. Down 0-30 in the intial game of the second set Devvarman produced two aces on the trot and followed it up with one that was nearly unplayable.

Even if his service games didn’t last as long as Karlovic’s he controlled the direction of his service games.

Serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second, Karlovic’s slice found the net to hand Devvarman his first matchpoint. Devvarman’s forehand flew wide to take the game to deuce.

Karlovic produced a serve becoming of his reputation, but Devvarman kept the ball in play. The Indian was wrong-footed, but moved swiftly for a cross-court shot which gave Karlovic no chance. The fourth seed hit a forehand long to give Devvarman the biggest moment of his career.

“It was horrible. I don’t remember when I was like this. I could not hit one ball in the court. Very disappointing.

“Devvarman was trying to put the ball in court. I couldn’t do anything right. I don’t remember when I last played this way. It was amazingly bad,” said Karlovic.

In another quarterfinal, the feisty temperamental Janko Tipsarevic was relatively subdued in his quarterfinal encounter against third seed Croatian Marin Cilic. Cilic beat the Serbian 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in a see-saw encounter.

Cilic had 10 aces to Tipsarevic’s one. The Croat made better use of his first serves, even if he got only 58 % of his first serves in, against Tipsarevic’s 67 %.

Impaired movement

The Serb’s movement seemed impaired in the first set. Cilic was finding the corners and forcing the pace once he managed the break to go up 2-1.

Tipsarevic was already 3-0 up in the second, when he received treatment for his hurt finger; but momentum wasn’t sacrificed in the bargain. As much as Cilic’s serving was inconsistent, Tipsarevic proactively forced the pace, reducing Cilic’s power from the baseline.

The third seed had difficultly keeping the ball in play, as Tipsarevic exemplarily mixed it up. The decider was won by the Croatian in the business end of the set, after Tipsarevic landed a few balls long and lost control.

“He broke me in the beginning of the second set and began putting in more effort into his points. I lost my rhythm and my serving went down. It’s good I came back in the third,” said Cilic.

The results: Singles, quarterfinals: Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) 6-4, 0-6, 6-4; Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 6-2, 7-5; Somdev Devvarman (Ind) bt Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 7-6 (4), 6-4.

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