Somdev Devvarman goes down fighting in first round of French Open

Somdev Devvarman was knocked out out of the French Open 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 in a long first round encounter versus Switzerland Marco Chiudinelli on Sunday. Marco is ranked 65 in the World. The Indian hope at French open Somdev Devvarman and Chiudinelli were engaged in a three-hour long epic match before the player from Switzerland Marco eventually won the match and made it 1-1 in head to head encounters versus Somdev Devvarman. The Indian Somdev had defeated Chiudinelli earlier in Dubai in the beginning of this year.

Somdev Devvarman on Friday had become the first male Indian Player in 13 years to qualify for the main draw at French Open. Leander Paes was the Indian player prevoious to Somdev who has qualified for the main draw of th French Open and he has lost to Magnus Norman in Round 2. Somdev’s only other entry at the main draw of a Grandlam was at the US Open in 2009 where he was defeated by Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

A decent effort by Somdev Devvarman in all and we need more players qualifying for the main draw in Grand Slams to have a realistic chance of having a serious shot at a Grand slam semi final or even a quater final stage appearance by an Indian.