Despite pushing the contest to the deciding set, Indian tennis ace Somdev Devvarman lost his men's singles opener at the Atlanta Open here to 18-year-old American Jared Donaldson.
Donaldson took 1:57 to defeat Devvarman, ranked 147th, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 on the hard courts of the Atlantic Station on Tuesday. This was the first meeting between the two.
After being thrashed 1-6 in the opening set, the Indian came back well to win the second and push the match into the decider.
In the third set, World No.156 Donaldson won the lone breakpoint, out of four chances, to take the advantage in the set and win the encounter. The 30-year-old Indian, on the other hand, could not even earn a breakpoint opportunity in the third set.
Both players entered the main draw after three rounds of qualification.