Los Angeles (US): Somdev Devvarman will have to wait for his first career ATP title as he and Treat Conrad Huey lost the fiercely fought summit clash of the Farmer's Classic to Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Belgium.
The unseeded Indo-Philippine pair fought their hearts out but eventually lost the final 6-7 (3) 6-7 (10) to the third seed Bahams-Belgium pair in the USD 619,50 tournament.
It was for the first time that Somdev had reached the final of an ATP doubles event. He has made two singles final so far. He reached final of Chennai Open, his home event, in 2009 and in Johannesburg early this year.
Somdev and Huey pushed their experienced opponents to limit but could not get past them in the tie-breakers. Things could have been different had not squandered two break chances in the second set.
They split USD 18,000 prize money and earned 150 ranking points for their effort.
Somdev's singles campaign had earlier ended with a 4-6 6-7 (7) first round defeat at the hands of Ryan Sweeting of the United States.
PTI
First Published: Monday, August 01, 2011, 16:52