Somdev gives India 1-0 lead after maiden Davis Cup win

Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei), Mar 6 (PTI) A rusty Somdev
Devvarman won the first Davis Cup match of his career when he
tamed Ti Chen 7-5 6-4 6-4 to give India a 1-0 lead against
Chinese Taipei in the second round tie of the Asia/Oceania
group here Friday.

Somdev, ranked 150, had to dig deep to defeat world
number 356 Chen in the first singles as the two countries
crossed swords for the first time in the Davis Cup.

Rohan Bopanna will now take on world number 59 Yen-Hsun
Lu in the reverse singles as India bids for a 2-0 lead at Yang
Ming tennis centre here.

Somdev, India's numero uno player, was nowhere near to
the level of game he displayed at the Chennai Open in the
begining of the season, but managed to pull it off somehow.

An erratic Chen, who seemed to have possessed the game
and tactics to tame Somdev, helped the cause of the Indian.

Chen lost the first set despite dominating the most part
of it as he let himself down with a series of unforced errors.

Somdev looked a lot better in the second set as he grew
in confidence and from there on controlled the proceedings.

After the first two games of the opening set went with
serves, Somdev broke Chen in the third to go up by converting
the second breakpoint.

The first breakpoint came India's way following a long
rally but Somdev could not cash in on as Chen served well to
save it.

Somdev got another breakpoint when Chen made a forehand
error and then converted it when the Chinese Taipei lad made a
volley error.

However, Somdev could not build on the advantge and
dropped his serve in the next to make it 2-2.

The games from five to eight went with serves comfortably
but the ninth game saw a curious fight between the two
players.

After playing five deuces, and saving many a breakpoints,
Chen eventually held the serve. Somdev then saved a set point
in the next, went on to break Chen in the 11th game and served
out the set in the 12th game to go one set up.

In the second set, Somdev played much better, and
continuously attacked the weak backhand of Chen.

It was the Indian who shot into lead when Somdev
converted second of the three breakpoints in the fifth game,
yet again thanks to an unforced error from his opponent.

A beautiful passing shot, down the line earned Somdev
another breakpoint in the seventh game and he converted it
with a brilliant winner, taking a comfortable 5-2 lead after
winning four games on the trot.

Chen, however, broke back in the next game and held his
serve in the ninth, raising hopes of his side but to no avail.

Somdev saved a breakpoint while serving for the match and
broke Chen twice -- third and seventh -- in the final set to
earn his maiden victory in the team tournament. PTI AT