India’s Somdev Devvarman has celebrated his entry into the top 100 with consecutive victories over opponents ranked higher than him. Devvarman had earlier defeated Robin Haase in three sets 2-6 6-4 6-0 in the opening round of qualifiers. Playing in the hard court tournament in the Chinese capital, Devvarman pulled off an amazing come from behind win to secure a main draw berth.
Just like in the initial round encounter against Robin Haase, Devvarman stumbled in the first set handing it to the Italian after a single break of serve. The second set was more neck-and-neck as the 2 players battled it out with Lorenzi aiming to close out the match. After an exchange of breaks, the set headed to a tie break. In a closely fought breaker, Somdev prevailed to win it 7-5 and force the match into a deciding set.
The final set was going to be a battle of nerves between the two closely ranked players. Devvarman, though, utilized the momentum from making a comeback into the match to break the Italian early. The continuous pressure from the Indian finally broke the resistance from the world number 85 as a second break of serve handed Devvarman the match.
Somdev Devvarman will now face Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the opening round of the main draw. A win against the Spaniard could see him face to face against world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round.
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