Match report

Taylor Dent © Tennistalk.com
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
1st round
8/11/08 1 2 3 Tot
us  Taylor Dent 6 3 6 1 1
in  Somdev Dev Varman 7 7 2 6 2
Somdev Dev Varman © Tennistalk.com

  • Dev Varman beats Dent for first ATP win

    8/12/08 7:51 AM | Ricky Dimon
    Both Taylor Dent and Somdev Dev Varman were looking for milestone victories of sorts on Monday in Washington, D.C. Dev Varman was the one who succeeded in that attempt, but it took three sets.

    Somdev Dev Varman is no stranger to winning, but the ATP is not college, it's not the Futures, and it's not the Challengers.

    After winning four consecutive Futures/Challengers tournaments straight out of the University of Virginia this spring, Devarrman, the 2007 and 2008 NCAA champion, notched his first career ATP victory on Monday. He defeated back-from-the-dead Taylor Dent 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-1 in the first round of the Legg Mason Classic.

    Dent, just now coming out of semi-retirement, was playing in his third match of 2008 due to myriad back problems that sidelined him since early 2006.

    It took a while to find out whose feel-good-story would continue. Dev Varman secured to the first break of serve with two exquisite passing shots for a 4-3 lead, but he donated his ensuing game to Dent at love to bring the score level at 4-4. Four games later a tiebreaker decided the opening frame of play. Up 2-1 but on serve, Dev Varman quickly seized two minibreaks; one on a deep lob that Dent dumped in the net, and the second thanks to another forehand passing shot. Dent never had a chance after that.

    The American got his chance in set two, however, and he took full advantage of it. Errors began creeping into Dev Varman's rock-solid game just as Dent's rust began to wear off. Dent's patience improved dramatically and he picked the right times to run around his backhand and rip a winning forehand. The former Wahoo seemed overpowered.

    That is until the final set, when Dev Varman put on quite a show. He won going away tracking down basically every single ball that came over the net, keeping service returns low at Dent's feet, and more stellar passing shots. Dev Varman broke for 3-1 and that would have been enough, but he decided to add an insurance break for good measure...and for a 5-1 lead.

    “I was a little nervous out there, to be honest with you”, Dev Varman said. “But after the first few games, that wore off.”

    As it applies to the third set, you could say that's bit of an understatement.

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