Stockholm: Indian tennis star Somdev Devvarman’s first-round jinx continued as he lost in straight sets to German wild card Tommy Haas to bow out of the Stockholm Open here.
The unseeded Indian, who is aiming to break into top-50 by the end of the season, went down fighting 6-7 (6) 4-6 after one hour and 25 minutes in the first round of the euro 600,000 hard court event.
It was the first meeting between 84th ranked Somdev and Haas, who was world number two in 2002 but is now languishing at number 290 in the ranking charts.
Now, in a period of about four months, where Somdev competed in eight tournaments, including Davis Cup tie against Japan, the Indian has managed to win only two matches.
The Indian challenge is still alive in the competition in the form of Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.
They have been given the top billing and will open their campaign against Austrian Julian Knowle and Poland’s Likaaz Kubot. PTI
