Philipp Kohlschreiber, a veteran of many Grand Slam appearances since his professional debut in 2001, has the knack of delivering the occasional sucker punch to top-10 adversaries on the ATP circuit. Over the years, his consistency and form have made him a fairly safe bet to last into the second week of a Slam, and as Somdev Devvarman found out on Thursday night in New York, the high quality of tennis the German dishes out is quite an ordeal to match, even if you do manage to sneak in a bagel.

The Indian’s Grand Slam singles debut ended with a gritty four-setter, but even after the 6-3 6-4 0-6 6-2 second-round defeat, Devvarman can look back at the week gone by and consider it a job well done.

“It was the first Slam one I qualified for and that’s a breakthrough in some ways. I played a slightly patchy match today, I could’ve done almost everything better. But I must give him credit, he maintained a pretty high level right through and showed why he’s ranked 23 in the world,” Devvarman told The Indian Express.

It took Devvarman three games before he could win his first point on Kohlschreiber’s serve, and giving away an early break made his job much tougher. He fought back by breaking the German’s serve in the seventh, but couldn’t hold on in the next game, letting Kohlschreiber serve out the opening set.

The second saw the world No 23 look decidedly more assured, with none of the close games of the first set bothering him as he went about his business. He got the only break he needed in the second game, and held off the Indian to make it two sets to love.

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