Somdev stuns Baghdatis to move into ATP event 3rd round

Indian Wells (USA), Mar 13: Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman scored a stunning upset win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in straight sets to advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters tournament here.

Somdev, the Indian number one tennis player, sent his 19th seed opponent packing 7-5, 6-0 in a second round match of the USD 3,645,000 prize money hard court ATP event.

Baghdatis is currently ranked 22nd in the world while Somdev is at 84th position.

In the round of 32, the Indian will meet Belgian Xavier Malisse who also stunned 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6(6), 7-5 in another second round match last night.

If Somdev beats Malisse, he has the chance to play against world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain as both has been placed in the top half of the draw.

Nadal play another qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States in the third round and the winner will play the victor of the match between Somdev and Malisse in the pre-quarterfinals.

Somdev had made it to the main draw of the tournament along with his Davis Cup team-mate Rohan Bopanna after playing in the qualifying round. He had beaten Adrian Mannarino of France 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.

Bopanna, on the other hand, had crashed out in the first round after losing to wild card Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6, 6-7, 4-6.

PTI