Melbourne: Somdev Devvarman squandered a two-set lead against World No. 26 Jerzy Janowicz and lost to his Polish rival 7-6(10) 6-3 1-6 0-6 5-7 in the second round of Australian Open here on Wednesday. Meanwhile Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands too suffered an unexpected defeat in the first round itself.
Somdev, who was side-lined in 2012 season due to shoulder injury and off late has been in news due to leading the players’ demands against AITA, played valiantly and at one time looked set to create improve his best performance at the Grand Slams but Janowicz came back strong after losing the first two sets to win the next two games 6-1, 6-0.
However, Somdev was in no mood to let his chances go against the higher ranked rival and fought valiantly in the third set, which he lost 5-7.
Meanwhile, in the women's doubles Sania and Bethanie, who came into tournament after winning the Brisbane international, were ousted by Spanish team of Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro. The 10th Indo-American team bowed out with a 6-7(4) 3-6 defeat in their opening round of the women's doubles. Sania will now compete in the mixed doubles with new partner Bob Bryan.
