India's Somdev makes US Open Round 2

Indians have reason to celebrate. Somdev Devvarman entered the second round of the men's singles at the US Open, beating Slovakia's Lukas Lacko on Wednesday.

The Indian tennis sensation rallied splendidly after dropping the first set to prevail 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 ,4-6, 6-4.

The 28-year-old Davis Cupper fought back was leading by two sets to one when rain interrupted the match. He, however, returned to complete the job after three hours and 11 minutes, at Flushing Meadows.

Lacko is placed 28 slots above Somdev in the ATP rankings at 85.

It was the first meeting between the two players and the Indian played his heart out.

Somdev tried to curb his unforced errors and rode on his better net play and break-point conversion rate to surpass the Slovak.

Somdev won 93 per cent of the net points compared to Lukas's 63, and also converted eight of the 12 break-points that came his way.

He also committed just 36 unforced errors, while Slovak had double the number (73) in the match.

"I'm very happy with the way I played. It was an incredibly tough match," Devvarman said.

"I played a few great scramble points there in the fifth set at 4-4. I'm happy with that last bit of effort out there."

Devvarman, who made his way through three qualifying matches, said he had a better idea about the court as he was "match sharp".

"I'm familiar with the speed of the courts. I've played a lot of matches.

"I hope I can take advantage of that in the next match. The only way I can improve is to fight through every match and I feel like I've done that," he added.

However, the opening round match did turn out to be a frustrating affair for him as it was stretched to an eight-hour affair following more than four hours of rain interruption.

"Bummer for me, momentum switch," Devvarman said. "But you have to pull your pants up and deal with it. Just the nature of the beast.

"I got two quarters of a meal at different times," added Devvarman, who was forced to wait in the locker room during the rain break.

"You just take a shower, eat and try to relax. You are in there with a bunch of your friends, playing games and the time passes pretty quickly."

"Stopping and starting, it was a little unlucky to stop there.

"You can't control the weather. It changed the momentum. He came out and played well, changed his tactics. He played a great fourth and fifth sets."

The world No 114 Indian will next take on Italian Andrea Seppi, ranked 20th, in the second round.

Seppi beat Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in another men's singles match.

Earlier this season, Somdev reached second rounds of the Australian and French Open, but failed to make the main draw at Wimbledon.