Bopanna advances at Nottingham Challenger

New Delhi:

Somdev Devvarman's lean patch continued as the Indian suffered yet another early defeat to crash out of the euro 42,500 ATP Challenger event in Nottingham, England, even as Rohan Bopanna advanced to the second round.

The sixth-seed Somdev fought an intense battle against Australian qualifier Samuel Groth but eventually lost 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10), 4-6 in the first round of the grass court event.

Bopanna, who entered the main draw via qualifying event, came back from behind to beat Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

He will next face Ukraine's Sergei Bubka, who shocked eighth-seed American Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-3 in his opening round.

Meanwhile, Prakash Amritraj and his American partner Rajeev Ram bowed out of the doubles event, losing the closely fought first-round match 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-10 to local pair of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski.