Australian Open: Devvarman squanders lead to lose in five sets

Melbourne, Jan 16 (IANS) Indian tennis player Somdev Devvarman conceded a two set lead to go down against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in a marathon second round match at the Australian Open here Wednesday.

The lone Indian in the men’s singles draw squandered a brilliant opportunity to lose 7-6, 6-3, 1-6, 0-6, 5-7 against the 26th ranked Pole on court number eight at Melbourne Park.

Devvarman, who has slipped to 551 in the ranking after missing most of last year owing to a shoulder injury, got the better of world no. 78 Bjorn Phau in the opening round.

The long hard fought battle saw the opening set lasting 79 minutes with Devvarman clinching it 12-10 in the tie-break. It took a toll on Janowicz, who in frustration over a line call, hit the umpire’s chair with his racket and threw his water bottle on the other side of the court.

Devvarman won the second set without much difficulty and looked set for another big win. But Janowicz bounced back in the contest, hitting 15 winners to take the set comfortably.

The 24th seed was unstoppable in the fourth set and struck 23 winners to level the match.

It was a battle of nerves in the decider with very little separating the two players. In the end, Janowicz’s aggression paid off as he made up for 15 unforced errors by finding three more winners. The Indian only hit five winners.

IANS 2013-01-16 11:40:02