CHENNAI // The former world No 1 and two-time Chennai Open winner Carlos Moya has been dumped out of the tournament by a local player ranked No 202 in the world. The unheralded Somdev Devvarman of India, a two-time US collegiate champion, upset the sixth-seeded Moya 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Making the first ATP Tour quarter-final of his career, Devvarman will now meet the fourth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, who outplayed Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.
The third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin. The No 27-ranked Cilic is the highest ranked player left in the tournament after the top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko pulled out of his second round match with a heel injury and the second-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland was knocked out in the opening round. In the quarter-finals, Cilic will meet the seventh-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who overcame Israel's Dudi Sela 7-6, 6-4 in the second round. Others advancing to the last eight were the fifth-seeded German Rainer Schuettler, the eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain and Bjorn Phau of Germany.
Devvarman, the 23-year-old who won the collegiate NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007 as a student at the University of Virginia, had received a wild-card entry for this tournament in the city where he honed his skills as a child. Moya, the 2004 and 2005 champion, said he was disadvantaged by organisers scheduling matches in the heat of the Chennai afternoon to make up for matches that had been delayed by rain.
"The heat affected me more than it bothered him," Moya said. "He plays much better than his rankings reflects. "I was not surprised, because I saw him play two days ago and knew he was very fast and was solid from the back of court." *AP