New York:
Somdev Devvarman won his first round in his bid for a place in the US Open tennis main draw, beating American Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-3, 6-3, but Prakash Amritraj lost to Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-7 (5), 6-4, 3-6, here at Flushing Meadows.
Somdev, ranked 161, beat the 133rd ranked American of Russian origin for the second time in a month on Tuesday, having beaten him to qualify for the LA Open late last month, also in straight sets.
Prakash's fight-back against Falla, who is ranked 31st for the qualifiers, was of no avail as he lost a tight first-set tie-break, won the second but could not carry the momentum into the third.
Somdev's victory is an upset of sorts as Bogomolov was seeded 16th in the qualifiers. The Indian will now play Dutchman Igor Sijsling who moved into the second round as his opponent Joshua Goodall of Britain retired trailing 2-4 in the third set after losing the first 6-7 (7) and winning the second 6-2.
"I played a solid match right from the start. I am feeling good going into the US Open Qualifiers as I have prepared well and I hope I will be able to qualify for the main draw," said Somdev.
Somdev, who is yet to play in a Grand Slam event, having lost in the second round of the qualifiers at the Australian Open, third at Roland Garros and in the first round at Wimbledon, has to win two more rounds to qualify for the main draw at the US Open.
The Indian should beat Sijsling, who is ranked 305, to take on the winner of the match between 229th ranked Jerzy Janowic of Poland and 153rd ranked Frenchman Alexandre, seeded 26.