Somdev, Sanam Singh lose in semi-finals

Chennai: Indian Davis cupper Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh failed to hold onto their nerves at a crucial stage, losing their doubles semi-final at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here on Saturday. In the decider they gave away the match that was within their reach, losing to Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei and Janko Tipersarevic of Serbia 3-6 6-4 5-10 in the match. In the super-tie break, the Indians trailed 3-6, but managed to reduce the margin to 5-7. Despite the spectators in the almost packed stadium rooting for them, Varman and Sanam could not withstand the swiftness and accuracy shown by their rivals as Sanam sent a low passing shot long (5-8), Varman return of serve went out (5-9) and then Sanam failed to put across a forehand shot (5-10). Lu and Tipsarevic await the winner of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski of England and Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Santiago Ventura. Tipsarevic told a post match conference that “the Indians put up a good doubles play. We decided to play short. It was a close match with lot of breaks. There were lot of breaks and not too much net play. But we were focused to win the tie. We together also had very good three seasons. We have a week off to practice and get ready for Australian Open,” he said. On the other hand the Indin stars said “losing the first set really cost us. One guy at the net and other the at the back, they played well,” Sanam Singh said. However, Dev Varman explained that “may be the first set. We are definitely dominating in the first set but we were losing points. They are not doubles specialists. We came off to a hard start once again. It is just a couple of points here and there. Even in the second we were up 3-2 a break and were in complete control. I just missed a ball that I should have made but it was a question of execution.”“At 6-5 couple of things changed out actions that can happen to any one,” Dev Varman said. Sanam quipped to say that “once you get to the deuce points it is anyone’s game. Every one returns well in super tie break and win. It is still disappointing. It was a good opportunity for me to get to play in this tournament with Somdev”. The wild card pair of Varman and Sanam produced a stupendous effort to take the match to the senior stars in the first game before losing the set at 3-6 but came up with excellent display in the next set. In all, Dev Varman and Sanam yielded four points in a row for their rivals to take the first set. In the second set Varman, who likes the challenge from higher rated players displayed tremendous courage to be instrumental winning the set holding to his serve in the ninth game after the pair broke the rivals’ seventh game. In the match featuring the Indians it was difficult to pinpoint who was the culprit among the duo as both played well sending notice to their rivals to be cautious. Varman and Sanam were staring down the barrel for yet another time in the match since trailing 3-6 and then 5-7 before losing the match. PTI