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Devvarman Stretches Baghdatis

DUBAI — Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman wasn’t ‘too disappointed’ after losing his second round match to former Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis.

Somdev pushed the former world number 8 to the limit during his 3-6 6-3 1-6 defeat at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

“I can’t be too disappointed from this tournament. I came here as a qualifier. I did well to do that and then played well in the first round. Obviously there are a couple of bright spots,” Somdev said after his second round match.

“Obviously, he (Baghdatis) is a very good player. He has been in the top 10 in the past.

“And I don’t think experience mattered a lot today. I think my execution was not up to the mark today.”

The 24-year-old Somdev said he missed many chances against Baghdatis today.

“In the third set also I think I had so many chances to break him. You know against good players you got to take those chances.

“Even in the games that I got broken, I didn’t feel like I was outplayed. I played a couple of bad shots here and there. I made too many loose errors against a quality player. That’s how the match went. “Yeah, I played a pretty poor game in the first set. He served pretty well. But in the second set, I played some solid tennis.”

Somdev, the main player in the Indian Davis Cup team, says there are many areas of his game that he needs to work on.

“Yeah I am big critic of my own game. I care more about my game than you guys do. When I throw away chances, it bothers me a lot. I need to work on that because you work so hard to get those chances, so it’s disappointing when you fail to convert those chances.

“I think I need to serve better as well. I served really well yesterday. Today I didn’t serve well in the third set. I served really well in the second. But I missed a couple of first serves that I should have made.”

Somdev says matches against top players will help his game. “Yeah, it’s not the first time I have done that. I have played top guys quite a few times. I have got beaten quite a few times and had couple of wins as well.”