Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman scored a stunning upset win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, winning in straight sets, to advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters tournament in Indian Wells.
Somdev, India's No 1 tennis player, sent his 19th seed opponent packing 7-5, 6-0 in a second round match of the US $3,645,000 prize-money hard court ATP event.
Baghdatis is currently ranked 22nd in the world while Somdev is at 84.
In the round of 32, the Indian will meet Belgian Xavier Malisse, who also stunned 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6(6), 7-5 in another second round match last night.
If Somdev beats Malisse, he has the chance to play world No 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain, as both are in the top half of the draw.
Nadal plays another qualifier, Ryan Sweeting of the United
States, in the third round. The winner will play the victor of the match between Somdev and Malisse in the pre-quarter-finals.
Somdev had made it to the main draw of the tournament along with his Davis Cup team-mate Rohan Bopanna after playing in the qualifying round. He had beaten Adrian Mannarino of France 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Bopanna, on the other hand, crashed out in the first round after losing to wild card Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6, 6-7, 4-6.
Fifth seed Andy Murray, sixth-seeded David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic all fell by the wayside too on a day of startling upsets.
British world number five Murray was eliminated 7-6, 6-3 by American qualifier Donald Young, Spaniard Ferrer crashed out 7-6, 6-3 at the hands of Croat Ivo Karlovic and Ljubicic was beaten 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 by Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
Spanish world number one and top seed Rafael Nadal, however, had little trouble with his opening match as he demolished South African qualifier Rik de Voest 6-0, 6-2 after just an hour on the showpiece centre court.
Photograph: Getty Images
