London: Somdev Devvarman failed to provide cheers to the Indian camp at the London Olympics as he bowed out of the men’s singles event with a straight-set defeat against Jarkko Nieminen, here on Sunday.
Somdev, a wild card entrant, lost the rain-hit first round match 3-6, 1-6 to his Finnish rival, who is ranked 41st in the world as against 418 of the Indian.
Somdev, who was playing his first competitive match in eight months after he underwent shoulder surgery last November, committed 21 unforced errors.
The gold medal winner at the 2010 CWG Games and the Asian Games, dropped his serve twice in the opening set and converted the only chance he got. India have another player competing in the men’s singles event with Vishnu Vardhan taking on Slovakia’s Blaz Kavcic.
Vardhan made the draw after Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew dew to a hamstring injury.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will open their campaign tomorrow after their match was put off due to the rains. (PTI)