Dubai: Wildcard Somdev Devvarman entered the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here Tuesday after second seed Juan Martin del Potro was forced to retire mid-way with an injury. Devvarman had won the first set 7-6 (3) when the Argentine decided to walk off the court.
Del Potro had gained a 2-0 lead in the first set before the Indian fought back to win it in an hour. Soon after, the world no.5's game faded as he appeared to be struggling with a wrist injury. He left the court for a medical time-out before returning to forfeit the match.
Devvaram had lost to de Potro in the second round here in 2013 when the latter reached his second straight semifinal.
The Indian entered the Dubai tournament high on confidence, winning the $100,000 ATP Challenger Delhi Open Sunday. Courtesy that win, he jumped 18 places to be 78 in the latest rankings.
Devvarman next faces either Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands or Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.
Monday, the India-Pakistan pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi defeated Nikolay Davydenko and Victor Hanescu 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 in the men's doubles opening round.
