Somdev shocks world number 26 Guillermo

Somdev Devvarman beat world number 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round of Serbia Open.

Belgrade (Serbia): Somdev Devvarman pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career by upsetting world number 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round of the Serbia Open on Thursday.

Somdev, who broke into top-100 early this year, scored a thrilling 7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (8) win over the Spaniard and sealed a place in the quarter-finals of the clay court event. It was Somdev`s first win over a top-30 player this year and would further enhance his reputation as a new force on the ATP circuit. The intense battle between Somdev, ranked 71, and Guillermo lasted three hours and 13 minutes. It was Somdev`s second meeting against Guillermo this year, having lost to him at Houston, U.S earlier. Somdev had defeated Ivo Karlovic, then world number 25, in 2009 Chennai Open to record his best win. Recently, Somdev had played his heart out against world number one Rafael Nadal and world number six David Ferrer before losing.It was Somdev, who put his nose ahead by winning the first set thorugh tie breaker but the Spaniard brought all his experience to take second set. Somdev saved eight break points and converted one of the two break chances to stretch the opening set to a tie-breaker. Guillermo though was not ready to throw in the towel and counter-attacked. He broke through Somdev`s defence, grabbing all three break chances to brought the match to level terms.Somdev got an early break in the decisive third set to go ahead 2-1 but dropped serve in the fourth game to let go advantage. However, the Indian got his second break in the seventh game and then held his own to make it 4-4. The score was soon 6-6 and eventually a tie-breaker ended the deadlock with Somdev emerging triumphant. PTI