ATP Rogers Cup, Toronto - Aug 9, 2010

[jaydeep]

So Somi facing unranked Canadian junior in first qualifying ... Match against Dennis Istomin will be tough one.

At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,96) vs (WC) Pavel Krainik (CAN,UNR)

[kishorJ]

Somdev wins the first set 6-0! 24 points v/s 5 points. only 20 minutes

[kujo]

Somdev leads 6-0, 4-0 in Q1 at Toronto Masters. Will it be a double-bagel?

Come on Buji....

[Omkara]

how does it matter? Probably the the WC is a new player whom Canadian sports authorities want to promote or just give a chance....

[kujo]

I like it when Somdev hands out Bagels, that is all!

Anyway, Somdev wins 6-0, 6-1 over the wildcard Canadian player Pavel Krainik.

Now on to Q2 tomorrow, most likely against the Russian Denis Istomin (ranked 54) who plays for Uzbekistan....

[PKBasu]

Istomin will be a tough nut to crack if Buji plays him in Q2. I hope Somdev qualifies this week, and then wins a few rounds in the main draw to make up for the disappointment at the Legg Mason (where he had done well from his college days...).

[arjun2761]

Somdev gets 14 points for this win. Hope he can qualify as that would yield and additional 21 points (35 in total) and of course he would have the chance to gain more points if he advanced.

[jaydeep]

Expected dominating win where Somi won inside 45 minutes ... He broke Pavel's serve 6 times in the match and didn't face a single break point on his serve ... Next he is facing tough opponent in top-60 Uzbek Istomin.

At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q2] (14) Somdev Devvarman (IND,96) vs (3) Denis Istomin (UZB,54)

[bujilover]

Cmon Buji wanna see u in 1st Masters Series Main draw.

[bujilover]

Doubles draw out. Bopanna-Butorac vs Cermak/ Mertinak

Gud to see Bops switching partners in order to get direct entries.

[bujilover]

Jay bro would you merge those posts of Buji's singles here...

[OK, merged .. Jay]

[sameerph]

Next he is facing tough opponent in top-60 Ukrainean Istomin.
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q2] (14) Somdev Devvarman (IND,96) vs (3) Denis Istomin (UKR,54)

Jaydeep, Istomin is from Uzbekistan .

14 points Somi got from his Q1 win are as easy as one can get at this level. But, Istomin will be tough . Istomin has been having a breakthru sort of season where he has done well on multiple surfaces at the highest level. Somi needs to be at his best to be competitive.

[jaydeep]

At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q2] (14) Somdev Devvarman (IND,96) vs (3) Denis Istomin (UZB,54)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Eric Butorac (USA) vs Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK)
[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bye

[jaydeep]

Oops

[suresh]

Oops

In fact, after Jaydeep's post I checked to see whether Istomin was one of those Russian imports (Kazakh style). Interestingly, Istomin was born in Russia but unlike those fake Kazakhs, he lives in Tashkent and is clearly Uzbekistani. IIRC, he also played for Uzbekhistan as a junior. Maybe, Jaydeep can delete the tomato and keep the oops

Sameer is right. Istomin is playing well these days and Somdev will have a hard task beating him. But what the heck, you got to beat a higher ranked guy to enter Masters Series event. Given that Somdev has handled big servers like Isner, Istomin's serve (one of his strengths) will be nullified, sort of, by Somdev. I can also see Somdev frustrate Istomin by returning just about everything and making him run around

Edit: Replaced Uzbekhi with Uzekistani (thanks to PKB for his knowledgeable comments below)