Second seed Somdev Devvarman was back in his elements as the India No.1 knocked out last week's Chennai leg runner-up Alexander Kudryavtsev in 57 minutes to storm into the last eight of the ATP Challenger Tour at BTA Courts, here today.
Playing with a wildcard, Somdev should have it easy in the quarters tomorrow as the ATP ranked 100th will have an easy opponent in Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, who is ranked 208th.
Somdev is the only Indian in fray in the USD 50,000 event.
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There was also disappointment in store for the ATP Chennai winner Yuki Bhambri, who made a shock second round exit going down to third seed Evgeny Donskoy without any resistance.
The day's play also saw two upsets in tournament fourth seed Go Soeda of Japan and seventh seed Radu Albot of Moldova who were ousted by their respective opponents.
It was a memorable day for Taiwanese qualifier Ti Chen, who showed the door to Roger Federer's Davis Cup teammate and 'good friend' Marco Chiudinelli 7-5 6-7 6-3 in a marathon two-hour 51-minute battle.
Chen, ranked 285th, will next face the in-form Russian Donskoy as he finds himself in the same half of the draw as Somdev, who incidentally had beaten the Taiwanese in the Davis Cup last month.
Recovering from a career threatening shoulder surgery last year, Somdev capitalised on an error prone Kudryavtsev to find out his rhythm.
Kudryavtsev was broken in the fourth game of the first set, after which both kept holding their serves, with Somdev moving a step ahead with the opening set by 6-3.
In the second, Kudryavtsev was broken twice on the third as well as the ninth game as Somdev pulled off his maiden win against the Russian en route to the quarters.
"I served very well, something that helped me take the upper hand. It feels I'm slowly getting into my A game," a delighted Somdev said after wrapping the issue in 57 minutes.
"He's an extremely dangerous player but his serves were not up to the mark and gave me a lot of free points. I happy with the way I'm going on," he said giving credit of his fitness to trainer Milos Galecic and physio Abhimanyu Singh.
Fresh champion from ATP Challenger Tour Chennai, Yuki was blown away by third seed Donskoy in a matter of one-hour and 21 minutes.
Yuki was broken in the fourth game of the opening set to give Donskoy a 4-1 lead, as he grabbed the set 6-3.
