Rediff

Wasington, Aug 12: Somdev Devvarman extended his good run to the ATP level, knocking out American wildcard Taylor Dent in three sets at the Legg Mason tennis classic in Wasington on Monday.

The Indian qualifier beat former world No 21 Dent 7-6, 2-6, 6-1 in the first round to record his first ATP main round victory.

The 27-year-old Dent took a wildcard for the tournament after injury kept him out of action for almost two years, but in his first event of the year he was eventually worn down by the world number 314, who enjoyed the biggest win of his career.

Somdev will now play either third seed Feliciano Lopez or American qualifier Robert Kendrick.

Fourth seed Tommy Haas needed three sets to overcome South African qualifier Rik de Voest in their opening round encounter, the German winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to advance.

Beaten in the first round of last week's event in Los Angeles, Haas set up a clash with talented Frenchman Nicolas Mahut as he joined six other men in the next round, including Americans John Isner and Bobby Reynolds.

Isner, a finalist here 12 months ago but now down to 134 in the world rankings, ousted eighth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.

The American will now play compatriot Donald Young, who was a convincing 6-3, 6-1 winner over Luis Horna of Peru in the final match of the evening.

Reynolds was a surprise winner over French seventh seed Marc Gicquel, triumphing 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 to move through to a meeting with either German Denis Gremelmayr, a semi-finalist in Los Angeles, or Viktor Troicki of Serbia.

Top seed Andy Roddick and another former world number one Marat Safin begin their campaigns on Tuesday.