Somdev loses to Ferrer

Somdev Devvarman put up a good fight against a top-10 player yet again before losing.

The Indian ace bowed out of the Sony Ericsson Open after a straight sets defeat to world No 6 David Ferrer of Spain.

Playing his second consecutive ATP Masters tournament, Somdev lost 4-6, 2-6 to the sixth seed in the third round.

Somdev, who has played some leading players in the last few weeks, gave a good account of himself again, getting the first break of the match.

He broke Ferrer in the fifth game of the opening set, only to see the Spaniard break back immediately to draw level.

Long rallies were on display in the first set as the Indian lad refused to go down tamely. However, with a crucial break of serve in the 10th game, Somdev had to concede lead and it was difficult to stage a comeback.

Somdev became first Indian to reach the fourth round of a singles event at the ATP Masters tournament at Indian Wells, where he lost to world number Rafael Nadal.

Before that Somdev had played against multiple Grand Slam winner Roger Federer in Dubai.