Somdev loses title clash for Chennai Open
Third seed Croatian Marin Cilic trounced Somdev Devvarman of
A dark horse in ATP circles and the rising star of Indian lawn tennis league, the 23-year old Somdev Devvarman, who gate-crashed into the Chennai Open finals like a bolt from the blue, went down fighting Marin Cilic who made a superior display at Chennai. In defeat, Somdev looked positive refusing to offer excuses for his debacle and assigning full credit to the superior game played by Cilic.
Marlin Cilic won the title helped by nine aces though Somdev rallied in the second set and drove the game to a tie-break. Somdev had only one ace up his sleeve. Cilic served one double fault while Somdev served three.
Somdev lost the Chennai Open finals but won the hearts of his childhood friends and fans, who were present in large numbers, to cheer him at Chennai. He found the jam-packed Stadium cheering him when he thanked his fans in their local tongue, Tamil, and vowed to return next year.
Impeccable service and forehand play by Cilic stole away the first set from Somdev. Breaking Cilic’s service for the set as well as match point, Somdev countered the rallies of the Croatian and tried to find a foothold in the game with backhands but failed to consolidate his position.
Somdev entered his maiden ATP tour final when he got a walkover in the semi-finals from fifth seed and world number 33 Rainer Schuettier of Germany following a wrist injury. Before that, he ploughed through former world number one Carlos Moya and Coatia’s world number 25 Ivo Karlovic to reach the semi-finals.
Being a fresher helped Somdev as nobody had viewed his previous games seriously. The coaches of top professionals were unable to devise game plans for their protégés.
Notwithstanding his debacle in the game, Somdev is richer by USD37,000 and 150 ATP points. With this win, Cilic picked up 250 ATP points and top prize money of USD73,000.
The last time an Indian won an ATP men’s singles title was in 1998 when Leander Paes returned home with the
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