Somdev in French Open qualifying finals

Paris:

Somdev Devvarman inched closer to making the French Open main draw after entering the final round of qualifiers with a hard-fought three-set win over Britain's Alex Bogdanovic here on Thursday.

The Indian, seeded 26th in the qualifiers, beat Alex 6-2 6-7 (3) 6-4 in a marathon encounter lasting two hours and 40 minutes.

Somdev will next take on Brazilian third seed Marcos Daniel in the final round.

After racing away with the opening set in 30 minutes, Somdev had to fend off a tough challenge from Bogdanovic.

In a 70-minute long second set, Somdev and Bogdanovic broke each other twice. However, the Brit held his nerve in the tie-breaker to draw level and take the match in to a third set.

The decider was equally well-contested as Bogdanovic broke Somdev twice. The Indian fumbled on several occasions but managed to convert three of the 14 break points he got to edge past his gritty rival.