Qualifying just a start,says confident Somdev

His hometown of Tripura in Indias north-east must surely have made Somdev Devvarman no stranger to the idiosyncrasies of rainy weather....

His hometown of Tripura in Indias north-east must surely have made Somdev Devvarman no stranger to the idiosyncrasies of rainy weather,but the spell of thundershowers that forced him to wait nearly 24 hours for a place in his first Grand Slam singles main draw wouldve been the most exasperating delay hes ever had to face. The 24-year-old has learnt a thing or two about handling tough situations,though,even if they are sent his way by nature. It was a bit frustrating,but then again it was something out of my control. I just focused on my preparation the next day and didnt lose any sleep over it, said Devvarman.

It was only a bizarre twist of events that wouldve denied him an honour he was three points away from,and it took Devvarman hardly any time to finish off the win over Jerzy Janowicz. But this,he said,was simply the beginning. Its one of my biggest tennis moments. But no celebrations,I need to focus on my next match and be ready for it, said the Indian,who will play 110-ranked Frederico Gil of Portugal in his-round match,and may run into world No 23 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second,if the German beats Italian Andreas Seppi.

The rough patch of the last few months behind him,the 162-ranked player acknowledges how much he likes playing in the US,where he played all his college tennis. The US is like a home away from home and I feel comfortable here too. A lot of my buddies who work in New York came to watch me play the qualifiers. My sister Paulami is also here from India,so that was a great support, he said.

Just about two months ago when Devvarman was in India,he didnt have much to write home about in terms of results,but insisted that streaks always came to an end,whether they were good or bad. Now,playing with the confidence that guided him to his maiden top-20 scalp in August and then this performance in the qualifiers here,he maintains that.

Even earlier I was losing close matches and I knew I had to keep working at it. The win over Marin Cilic gave me a boost and even the tricky three-setter I had to play in the second round of qualifying motivated me to keep going.

Todays specials

Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR vs Kim Clijsters BEL

1-Roger Federer SUI vs Devin Britton USA

Alexa Glatch USA vs 2-Serena Williams USA

Vera Dushevina RUS vs 3-Venus Williams USA

Bjorn Phau GER vs 5-Andy Roddick USA

Olga Govortsova BLR vs Sania Mirza IND

Somdev Devvarman IND vs Frederico Gil POR

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