Devvarman Reaches NCAA Singles Final for Second Consecutive Season
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May 27, 2007
ATHENS, Ga. – Virginia junior tennis player Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) advanced to the championship match of the 2007 NCAA Singles Championship, but the doubles team of Devvarman and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) were defeated in the NCAA Doubles Championship during semifinal play Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Second-seeded Devvarman advanced to the final for the second consecutive year with his three-hour 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3 win over No. 4 seeded Kevin Anderson on Illinois. Devvarman becomes the first player to reach back-to-back finals since Georgia’s Matias Boeker won the 2001 and 2002 NCAA Singles Championships.
In the first set, both players had numerous break point chances, but neither could take advantage and the set went to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Devvarman jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Anderson won three straight points to close to 5-3. Devvarman wont he next two points to win breaker and take the first set, 7-6.
The second set started much like the first, with neither player able to break serve. Devvarman was serving at 5-6 to force another tiebreaker and led 40-15, but Anderson won four straight points to break serve and win the second set 7-5.
In the final set, Devvarman jumped out to an early advantage as he broke Anderson’s serve at 1-1 to take a 2-1 lead. Anderson had a chance to level in the next game as he had a pair of break points, but Devvarman fought them off and held to take a 3-1 lead. He held that one-break advantage to 5-3 in the set before breaking Anderson again to close out the 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 win.
“I thought I played well overall today,” Devvarman said. “I served well and put a lot of pressure on him in his service games. He served well in the first two sets and it was a point here or there that made the difference in those sets. In the third, I got a break early and that gave me a lot of momentum. I was then able to play a good game at 5-3 to break him again for the win.”
The win was Devvarman’s 43rd singles win of the season, and his 11th career NCAA Singles Tournament win, extending both of his school records.
Devvarman will meet top-seeded John Isner of Georgia in the final. Isner defeated Alex Slovic of Washington 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal Sunday. The two players have met three times already this season. Isner downed Devvarman 6-2, 7-6 in the semifinals of the ITA All-America Tournament in Tulsa in October. In the Virginia-Georgia matchup in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Tournament in Chicago in February, Isner recorded a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Devvarman. In the most recent meeting, one week ago, Devvarman downed Isner 6-4, 6-4 when Virginia and Georgia met in the semifinals of the NCAA Team Tournament.
“I have played John many times so I know his game and he knows mine,” Devvarman said. “I am looking forward for the opportunity and expect a great match tomorrow.”
Devvarman and Huey, the No. 2 seed in the doubles draw, suffered a 6-3, 7-6 (5) loss to No. 5-8 seed Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom of Middle Tennessee. The first set was on serve until the Middle Tennessee team broke Huey’s serve at 3-4 and followed by holding serve to win the opening set 6-3. In the second set, both teams served well and neither side could get a break point opportunity. The set went to a tiebreaker, which was tied at 4-4 before the Blue Raider duo won three of the final four points to finish the 6-3, 7-6 win.
“We are obviously disappointed with the loss,” Huey said. “We played well but they played well too. They forced us into some errors that we didn’t make in the earlier rounds. We are proud to reach the semifinals, but felt that we could have gone further.”
The finals of the 2007 NCAA Individual Championships will be Monday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The men’s singles final between Devavrman and Isner is slated for a 6 p.m. start. The match will be broadcast on a tape delay basis by the Tennis Channel.