Somdev crashes out of French Open, loses in straight sets

India’s singles hopeful Somdev Devvarman stumbled at the first hurdle in the French Open on Tuesday. Ivan Ljubicic may be ranked 37th in the world at present, but he showed that he had more than enough class to crush the Indian in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. The tall Croatian, who was once ranked as high as world number three, relied on his big serve and powerful groundstrokes to push the Indian into a corner and towards defeat. [caption id=“attachment_14797” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Somdev had fewer unforced errors, but that was just not enough. Getty Images”]  [/caption] Somdev was especially threatened on his second serve which just didn’t allow him to ever settle down. He managed to win only 16 of 34 points on his second serve as Ljubicic made it a point to attack it on every opportunity. Somdev’s best chance in this match would have been to rely on fitness to chase down balls and extend the points, but he failed in that respect, too. Ljubicic cracked 40 winners during the game to completely outplay the Indian. The number of winners combined with Ljubicic’s better conversion rate of the break-points saw him get crucial wins. Somdev had fewer unforced errors, 20 to Ljubicic’s 34, but he also had lesser winners. In a nutshell, the Croat was the one who was pulling the strings in this game. For Somdev, it’s been great so far and the first-round exit shouldn’t dishearten him too much. Come Wimbledon and the US Open, he would find himself more at home on the faster surfaces.