Indian giant-killer enters Chennai Open tennis semis after sending Ivo Karlovic packing
Indian giant-killer enters Chennai Open tennis semis after sending Ivo Karlovic packing
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Rainer Schuettler has won four ATP titles. He's earned ten times as much as his semi-final opponent on the Tour and reached the Wimbledon semis last year.
But bigger reputations have fallen at the feet of Somdev Devvarman. After Carlos Moya's scalp in the second round, Somdev made light work of the towering Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals yesterday, winning 7-6 (4), 6-4.
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Karlovic is ranked 25th in the world and Somdev stands 180 positions below him. But the way the 23-year-old Assamese stood up to the challenge is a sure sign of a bright future.
Just another tie
"I just treated it as another match. If I had looked at his reputation, I would have fallen behind. I could sense that he was not having the best of games and tried to play on that," Somdev said.
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Karlovic's booming serve did play on Somdev's mind. "I had to focus on holding my serve because chances will be few when it comes to his serve. I saw his backhand was weaker. He was just trying to get it back in the court. So I attacked that," he added.
Somdev's serve was imperious. He did not allow a single break point on his serve and broke Karlovic in one of the two chances he got.
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In fact, the break point that he won was also the match point. Such statistics do speak of a tight match but it was apparent that Somdev looked more comfortable. And Karlovic agreed. "It is amazing. I don't remember the last time I played so badly. Not one ball was going in the court"
With his brilliant wins, Somdev has achieved instant stardom. The 20,000-strong crowd made the Centre Court a cauldron. However, he remains unfazed. "I don't worry about these things. All I am concerned about is playing tennis. All these fans are a whole new experience for me since I'm only used to seeing 200-300 people cheering for me in the US."
Schuettler next
"Schuettler is playing well. I'll have to play really well to win. But I'm going to put today behind me and start afresh. It's worked for me so far."
Meanwhile, India's Mahesh Bhupathi and hisu00a0 partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas went down 6-3, 3-6, 8-10 to Jean-Claude Scherrer and Stanislas Wawrinka thereby ensuring Somdev is the only Indian left in the Chennai event.
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