London: India's ace tennis player Somdev Devvarman crashed out of the Queen's tennis tournament after suffering a shock straight-set defeat against Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden in the opening round of the event on Tuesday.
The Asian Games gold medallist Somdev lost 5-7 3-6 to unheralded Ebden in a contest that lasted little over an hour.
World No. 67 Somdev is ranked 101 places above his opponent in the ATP rankings.
Ebden edged a tight first set and then went on to secure a win with a break late in the second set to clinch the biggest win of his career.
The 23-year-old South African-born Ebden (ranked 168th) will next face world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who will play his first singles match since winning his record sixth French Open title in Paris on Sunday, defeating world number three Roger Federer.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, June 08, 2011, 00:01