Somdev gets a tough first round at Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 14 (PTI) India''s wild card entrant SomdevDevvarman was today handed a tough draw at the Australian Openas he is pitted against world number 51 Tommy Robredo in thefirst round of the men''s singles event here.

Somdev, ranked 110 in the world, was awarded one of thetwo wild cards for Asian players by the organisers of thefirst Grand Slam of the season.

Somdev had never managed to get into the main draw as hefailed in his previous two attempts in the qualifiers.

If Somdev manages to cross the first hurdle, he will beup against either Victor Hanescu of Romania or 16th seedAmerican Mardy Fish.

Sania Mirza, meanwhile, is going through the qualifiersfor an entry into the the women''s singles main draw.

She has cleared the first round and will face Russia''sVitalia Diatchenko next.

In the men''s doubles, the ''Indian-Express'' of LeanderPaes and Mahesh Bhupathi is returning to the court togetherafter a gap of the 11 years with an aim to win the elusiveAustralian Open trophy.

This is the only Grand Slam the duo have not won in theirsuccessful career.