Prakash advance, Somdev ousted from Wimbledon qualifiers

London:

Prakash Amritraj sealed a second round berth in the Wimbledon qualifying event but it was all over for Somdev Devvarman, who crashed out after losing his opening match here on Monday.

Prakash, seeded 28 and ranked 161 beat Croatian world number 236 Antonio Veic 6-3, 6-4 in his first round match.

Somdev, seeded 14th, lost 3-6 2-6 to Monaco's Jean-Rene Lisnard, who is placed 80 rungs below the Indian at 215.

Prakash broke his rival once each in both the sets -- sixth in the first and third in the second - to advance.

Prakash played a flawless game as he faced just two breakpoints in the match and succesfully saved both.

He will next face either Conor Niland of Ireland or Daniel Cox of Britain

Somdev, who has been struggling these days, had a disappointing day as despite putting up a tough fight he ended up on the wrong side.

Somdev began fantastically by breaking Lisnard in the very first game of the match but suffered two consecutive breaks - second and fourth games - to concede lead.

Somdev had his chance to come back in the set when he earned a breakpoint in the ninth game and also saved two set points but the Monaco player did not let the Indian comeback.

The second set too started on a disastrous note for Somdev as he dropped his serve. Lisnard broke him in the seventh game to create a 5-2 cushion and served out the match in the next game.