01 February,2011 12:43 PM IST | | Agencies
Indian tennis ace Somdev Devvarman eased into the second round of the ATP South African Open with a straight-set win over local hope Raven Klaasen in his opening match here.
Somdev defeated the local qualifier 6-4 6-3 in his lung-opener of the USD 442,500 event. The Indian faces a tough challenge from here on as his very next opponent could be third seed Serb Janko Tipsarevic, who would be squaring off against the Netherlands' Jesse Huta in his opening match.
Somdev, who was a quarter-finalist in the event last year, relied on his powerful serve from the very beginning and did not offer a single break chance to his rival in the opening set. The Indian converted one of the four break points he earned in the first set to nose ahead.
The Commonwealth and Asian Games gold-medallist then dominated the second set and broke Klaasen twice, besides saving a break, to wrap up the issue in one hour and 23 minutes.
