Somdev in final of South African Open

Johannesburg, Feb 6 (PTI) Commonwealth and Asian Gamesgold medallist Somdev Devvarman reached his first ATP final intwo years after beating local wild card entrant Izak Van derMerwe in straight sets in the South African Open here.

The 25-year-old rising Indian star scored a 6-2 6-4 winover the South African to progress to his second career finalat the Montecasino Entertainment Centre. His first one beingin Chennai in 2009 where he lost to Croatia''s Marin Cilic.

The victory has moved the Indian within sniffing distanceof accumulating 250 ATP World Tour points and pocketing USD76,500 first prize money.

In the summit clash, Somdev will face fourth seed SouthAfrican Kevin Anderson who defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannrino6-7(3) 6-0 6-4 in the other semifinal match.

Last year, Somdev was eliminated in straight sets bySpain''s David Ferrer at the quarter-final stage.

Somdev wasted little time in winning the first set injust 39 minutes, breaking serve in the first and third games.

Merwe, much taller to his Indian opponent, rallied in thesecond set but Somdev broke again in the seventh game when hisrival ended a rally with a tame shot into the net.

Somdev has so far dropped just one set at the tournament.