Battling Somdev succumbs to Janowicz and the heat

At 27, it appears Somdev Devvarman is catching a second wind. But the force of it wasn’t nearly enough to survive a five set battle against the determined Jerzy Janowicz, who took advantage of his better fitness to turn the tide, before reeling the Indian back to score a bruising five set victory over his gallantly fighting opponent. It was yet another heart warming effort, but in the end, Somdev had the heart but not the legs needed for the sapping four-hour endeavour that ended 6-7(10), 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 in favour of the Pole.

Beginning with an exchange of breaks, the players settled down for the slug fest that lay ahead. The sixth game was an absolute beauty, with Janowicz serving at 2-3. It turned out to be a 17 point marathon, including four saved break points that forewarned the packed crowd around the small court of the intriguing battle that was to come. It was the non-descript court 8 on the fringes of the tennis park, and on these courts, there is never an iota of space available to spare. Somdev was offered an inch (when he had set point in the twelfth game), but Janowicz has nine inches on the 5’11″ Indian, and it saved the moment and helped push the set into a tie-breaker.

Somdev got off to a brilliant 3-0 start, and the 551st ranked player was clearly ruffling the 26th ranked Pole. A third mini-break took the gritty Indian to 5-1, and with two serves to come after the next point, the set was now on his serve. But at 5-2, the 27-year-old lost both the points and Janowicz took advantage of the opening to score his fifth straight point for his first set point. The tenacious Indian though was in no mood to relent and what followed was pure theatre.

Two set points had come and gone for each man. At 9-8 in the tie-breaker, Janowicz was again serving for the set. Running around the ball, Somdev was taking it on his forehand and a prolonged rally ended when the Indian teed off to strike a forehand up the line that wasn’t called. Janowicz believed it was clearly out and went into a dramatic meltdown. “How is that? How is that? I cannot play like this, how many times tell me?” (SIC) he hollered at the chair. These are the travails of being on an outside court where there is no hawk eye to help review calls.

Somdev, urged on by the sizeable contingent of Indian fans, took advantage of the turmoil that was gripping Janowicz to reel in three straight points from 9-10 to take the bruising first set. It was an hour and 21 minutes of sheer excitement, and meltdown or not, Somdev was making a mockery of the rankings as he went toe to toe with the higher ranked Pole. He had a better first serve (68 – 57%), less double faults (1 – 6) and much fewer unforced errors. Janowicz ended up with 32 of them, compared to just 8 for the Indian. The last and only time the two had met was in round three of qualifying for the US Open in 2009, when Somdev was a run away 6-3, 6-2 winner.

The Indian, in the main draw of this Australian Open through a protected ranking, was showing he belonged; that the time away due to injury hadn’t dulled his instinct or his skills. The second set stayed on serve to 3-3, and a break came without warning to the lustily cheering bunch of Indians who were turning court 8 into something akin to an impromptu celebration of Rajnikanth in a movie clad corner of Chennai. Somdev broke at love to set off a sequence of fifteen straight points that helped the Indian to three set points in the ninth game. Janowicz saved two of those to spring back to life, but it was one too many, and Somdev took the third to take a surprising two set lead.

The intensity began to take a toll on Devvarman and the spirit started to evaporate. The match turned on its head very early in the third set. Janowicz broke to love, before saving a couple of break points in the next game to consolidate his way back into the contest. Somdev fell to 0-40 in the third game but in a show of resistance managed to save all three points. But Janowicz converted the next and held serve to take a 4-0 lead. Knowing his vulnerability in a prolonged match, Somdev fought hard to get back into the set, but two break points lay to waste as the Pole held his own. In the seventh game, Somdev quickly dropped to 0-40 to offer three set points to his opponent. The Indian saved two of those, but succumbed on the third to let the Pole back into the match.

Somdev’s legs were wilting and the spirit after all cannot do all the running for you. The warrior from Guwahati in Assam was fighting off spent cartridges, and despite clinging to the court by the skin of his teeth, Janowicz broke him a fourth straight time to get the match back on even terms with a resounding 6-0 thumping in the fourth set and take the match into the decider. The Indian fans had been lulled into a deafening silence by now, except for the die-hard who let out the occasional note more in desperation than in hope. Somdev brought them back to life, when he finally won his first game in almost 40 minutes, after he held serve to 1-1 in the fifth set.

But the writing was on the wall, Somdev fell to 15-40 in the fourth game. Janowicz snatched the break on the second point to take a decisive 3-1 lead. The Pole rode home the advantage to take a 5-2 lead. Serving to stay in the match, Somdev launched one final burst of effort to force the Pole to serve for a spot in the third round. And the weight of the moment did the Indian’s bidding, with Janowicz slipping quickly to 0-40. The Pole managed to save the first, but surrendered the break at the second time of asking to allow the Indian to bring the set back on serve, and his worn out bunch of supporters on to their feet.

The intent was clear and the danger was renewed for the lanky 22-year-old from ?ód?, the third largest city in Poland. At 40-30 in the eleventh game, Somdev though could not take the game, and Janowicz won two in a row to clinch his first match point. There was a little more fight left in the legs of the Indian, who promptly saved it to bring the game back to deuce. But that was to be his final stand; Janowicz won the next two points to clinch the marathon and advance to the third round, where the 10th seeded Nicolas Almagro lies in wait. The Spaniard defeated his compatriot Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 to seal his spot.

It was an battle of attrition, and it took all of Janowicz’s power to peg back the fighting Indian, whose tireless defense forced the Pole to rattle as many as 91 winners, but also make an unbelievable 88 unforced errors in the bargain. The result also means that the Indian has failed to clear the second round hurdle in a Grand Slam tournament for the third time in his career. But after a long injury lay-off, the valiant effort should warm the hearts of the player and his fans.