The Indian challenge at the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open on Wednesday was all but over with two of the three in the fray bowing out.
MUMBAI: The Indian challenge at the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open on Wednesday was all but over with two of the three in the fray bowing out and another on the brink of defeat even as rains continued to affect the tournament.
While wild card Rohan Bopanna lost in close three-set match (3-6 6-3 7-6) late Monday night, despite having three match points, Somdev Dev Varman, another wild card, made an exit early on Wednesday. Somdev, who had dropped the first set but was 3-1 ahead in the second when rain stopped play, lost his advantage soon after play began.
His Italian opponent, Fabio Fognini, came out with all cylinders firing, broke back and thwarted all the attempts by the Indian to take the match to a decider. For the record, the score board read 6-3 7-6 (7) in favour of the Italian. Somdev, who had a few break point opportunities in the second set, was left to rue those missed opportunities.
“I started picking up towards the end but also made some uncharacteristic errors at the wrong time,” said Somdev. “I was a little short in the tie-break but hopefully I’ll get better as I play more and more tournaments.”
For the 22-year-old Indian it was the second straight defeat in as many ATP Tour events. In his maiden appearance in a Tour event earlier this year - at Washington DC (the Legg Mason Tennis Classic) - Somdev had lost in straight sets in the opening round to American Paul Goldstein.
Meanwhile, the last Indian left in the fray, Purav Raja had lost the opening set in his match against Spaniard Ivan Navarro (6-4) and was down a break (3-1) before rains brought play to a halt. In the only other match of the day Belgian Olivier Rochus made short work of Dutchman Robin Hasse to move into round two with a 6-2 6-2 win.
The win was Rochus’ first opening round win on the ATP Tour since July — the Belgian had lost in the opening round of 10 of his last 12 tournaments — and came close on the heels of his title win in the Orleans Challenger in France two weeks back.
The match between Taipei’s Ti Chen and the tournament favourite and second seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was also cancelled after endless delays as were the other matches. The tournament will have an early start on Thursday in a move to complete the backlog of matches.
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