Curtains on Somdev's campaign, Prakash advances

Binghamton, USA:

After early singles exit, Somdev Devvarman's campaign also ended in the doubles event of the ATP Challenger event here even as Prakash Amritraj continued his progress.

Somdev and his Philippines partner Treat Conrad Huey lost 3-6 2-6 to South Africa's Kevin Anderson and America's Ryler Deheart in the first round of the USD 50,000 hard court event. Somdev had also suffered a shock first round defeat in the singles event.

Meanwhile, Prakash advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles event along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi after scoring an easy 6-3 6-2 win over American wild card pair of Lester Cook and John Paul Fruttero in the first round.

The Indo-Pak pair will now fight it out with Ukraine's Sergei Bubka and Russia's Alexandre Kudryavtsev for a place in the semifinals.

Prakash is slated to meet Bubka, who had ousted Somdev, in the singles second round.