Somdev qualifies for men's double event of Wimbledon

London:

Somdev Devvarman joined senior compatriots Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the main draw of men's doubles at Wimbledon after winning the final round of the qualifying event on Wednesday.

The Indo-South African pair of Somdev and Kevin Anderson edged past Italian Alessandro Motti and Joseph Sirianni of Australia 7-6 (0), 6-7 (1), 8-6 in an extremely tough second round match.

For Somdev, who had earlier failed to qualify for the singles, it is one of the biggest moments in his fledgeling career.

The Indian has been going through a lean patch for quite sometime and this chance of representing the nation in a Grand Slam event may also inspire him to revive his singles campaign.

Since making the Chennai Open final in January, Somdev is going through a horrid time on the courts, failing to repeat the success and magic.

Both the pairs played solid tennis from the word go and didn't concede any break and the first set had to be decided via tie-breaker.

Although Somdev and Anderson had one breakpoint in the 12th game, their rivals warded off the threat. However in the tie-breaker Somdev and Anderson played amazingly and won seven points on the trot to seal the first set.

The second set too saw an intense fight without any break and had to be decided through tie-breaker.

Somdev and Anderson had squandered two breakpoints in the ninth the game but Alessandro and Joseph negotiated the pressure well and held their serve to stretch it to tie-breaker, which they won by conceding just one point.

Now it was turn of Alessandro and Joseph to get a chance to break their opponents and they grabbed it with both hands.

But the Indo-South African pair fought back well and finally broke their rivals to draw parity.

They got two more chances in the eighth game but failed to convert either. Finally they converted their first match point in the 14th game point to seal the victory.