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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:09 a.m., Thursday, January 8, 2009

Tennis: Devvarman stuns 6th-seeded Moya at Chennai Open

By SANDEEP NAKAI
AP Sports Writer

CHENNAI, India — Former No. 1 and two-time champion Carlos Moya was stunned in the second round of the Chennai Open on Thursday by a local player ranked No. 202 in the world.

Unheralded Somdev Devvarman of India, a two-time U.S. collegiate champion, upset the sixth-seeded Moya 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Making the first ATP Tour quarterfinal of his career, Devvarman will now meet fourth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, who outplayed Czech player Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-4.

Third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

The No. 27-ranked Cilic is the highest ranked player left in the tournament after top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko pulled out of his second round match Wednesday with a heel injury and second-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland was knocked out in the opening round.

In the quarterfinals, Cilic will meet seventh-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, who overcame Israel's Dudi Sela 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Others advancing to the quarterfinals were fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler and Bjorn Phau of Germany and eighth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers.

Schuettler won 6-4, 6-2 against Simon Greul in an all-German contest, Granollers coasted to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Andreas Beck of Germany and Phau beat Flavio Cipolla of Italy 6-1, 6-2.

Devvarman, the 23-year-old who won the collegiate NCAA titles in 2006 and '07 for the University of Virginia, had received a wild card entry for this tournament in the city where he honed his skills as a child.

Moya, the 2004 and 2005 champion, said he was at a disadvantage with organizers scheduling matches in the heat of the Chennai afternoon to make up for matches that had been delayed by rain.

"The heat affected me more than it bothered him," Moya said.

"(Devvarman) plays much better than his rankings reflect," Moya added. "I was not surprised, because I saw him play two days ago and knew he was very fast and was solid from the back of court."

Moya got a break point in the second game of the opening set before Devvarman pulled even at 3-3. Another break by the veteran Spaniard in the 10th game decided the first set.

Devvarman won the second set when he broke Moya in the 11th game and then held his own serve with ease. Moya fell behind early in the third, dropping serve in the third game, and Devvarman played with aplomb to deny him a chance of getting back into the contest.

"I sent a message to him that I just wasn't going to go away," Devvarman said.

"When you see a player on the other side trying to do too much, you know he's under pressure," said Devvarman, who became the first Indian player to reach the quarterfinals in Chennai since Leander Paes reached the semifinals in 1998.

"Hopefully, I'm not just quarters. I'm not one of those guys who gets content easily," he said.