Chennai:
America's Robby Ginepri created the biggest upset of the Chennai Open by stunning top seed and world number eight Robin Soderling of Sweden in straight sets in the first round here on Tuesday.
Soderling, who recently defeated Roger Federer in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, was handed a crushing 6-4 7-5 defeat by unheralded Ginepri in the opening round.
Soderling had entered the event as one of favourites but much to his horror Ginepri, who stands exactly at 100 in the ATP ranking chart, forced his early exit.
The match lasted just one hour and 31 minutes.
Meanwhile, qualifier Prakash Amritraj became the first Indian casulaty after suffering 3-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of American Michael Russell.
In another first round matche, Marcel Granollers of Spain came from behind to beat British James Ward 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 after a two hour and two minutes battle.
Soderling was surprisingly erratic and failed to convert breakpoints in the second set.
The top seed though gave full credit to his opponent for his win but said he felt stiff on the court.
"Robby was consistent but I was not comfortable even as I made to the court for today's play. It is always difficult for top seeds in a tournament to win matches in season opener.
"Robby was already but the two days of practice that I had perhaps was not enough. Everything went wrong today. The heat was not a problem. I was finding it difficult to move. I had to fight for every point," he said.
An elated Ginepri was happy to send the top seed out of the tournament.
"Hard worked paid off. He also played some good shots and there was lot of rallies. But between the lines, he lost points," he said.
Ginepri was aggressive from the word go and put pressure on the his fancied opponent, who was often troubles by the balls that got extra bounce.
Ginepri served well as he fired 11 aces and also cut down onhis unforced errors.
On the side court, Amritraj, who won three qualifying matches to make the main draw, was left to rue his huge loss in his first round.
The only time Amritraj crossed the first hurdle here at this event was in 2006 when he got the better of Ricardo Mello of Brazil 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. He had lost in the second round to second seeded Czech Radek Stepanek.
Soderling, who recently defeated Roger Federer in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, was handed a crushing 6-4 7-5 defeat by unheralded Ginepri in the opening round.
Soderling had entered the event as one of favourites but much to his horror Ginepri, who stands exactly at 100 in the ATP ranking chart, forced his early exit.
The match lasted just one hour and 31 minutes.
Meanwhile, qualifier Prakash Amritraj became the first Indian casulaty after suffering 3-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of American Michael Russell.
In another first round matche, Marcel Granollers of Spain came from behind to beat British James Ward 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 after a two hour and two minutes battle.
Soderling was surprisingly erratic and failed to convert breakpoints in the second set.
The top seed though gave full credit to his opponent for his win but said he felt stiff on the court.
"Robby was consistent but I was not comfortable even as I made to the court for today's play. It is always difficult for top seeds in a tournament to win matches in season opener.
"Robby was already but the two days of practice that I had perhaps was not enough. Everything went wrong today. The heat was not a problem. I was finding it difficult to move. I had to fight for every point," he said.
An elated Ginepri was happy to send the top seed out of the tournament.
"Hard worked paid off. He also played some good shots and there was lot of rallies. But between the lines, he lost points," he said.
Ginepri was aggressive from the word go and put pressure on the his fancied opponent, who was often troubles by the balls that got extra bounce.
Ginepri served well as he fired 11 aces and also cut down onhis unforced errors.
On the side court, Amritraj, who won three qualifying matches to make the main draw, was left to rue his huge loss in his first round.
The only time Amritraj crossed the first hurdle here at this event was in 2006 when he got the better of Ricardo Mello of Brazil 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. He had lost in the second round to second seeded Czech Radek Stepanek.
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