Robby Ginepri of the US in action against Sweden’s Robin Soderling during their Chennai Open match on Tuesday. (AFP)

Chennai: The extra hard work that he put in during the off season was beginning to show result, said Somdev Dev Varman after his straight-set win over Germany’s Rainer Schuettler on Tuesday.

“I definitely feel I am a better player now,” he said. “I keep on saying that I want to develop my game. It’s just not a statement, I really mean it,” he said.

“In the off season, I worked on the transition from backcourt play to frontcourt, making the points shorter and make it easy for me,” was how Somdev described his performance in the first round.

Asked what should be his strategy against Janko Tipsarevic in the next round, the 24-year-old latest star of Indian tennis said: “Janko is a really tough player. He doesn’t have any real weakness. He has beaten players like (Andy) Roddick.

“He likes to attack, so I have to keep my focus on my returns. Whenever there is a neutral situation I have to take advantage of it. The key will be the serve,” he added.

The doubles win with Sanam Singh on Monday came as a huge help on the eve of the crucial singles match, said Somdev.

“It helped that I played on the centre court. I could get the feel of the energy and winning the match gave me the confidence,” was how he put it.

RESULTS

DAY I — Round I: Marin Cilic (2, Cro) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) 6-2, 6-4; Santiago Giraldo
(Col) bt Bjorn Phau (6, Ger) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3; Jan Hajek (Cze) bt Simon Greul (Ger) 3-6, 6-
2, 6-4; Janko Tipsarevic (4, Srb) bt Carlos Moya (Esp) 6-3, 7-6(2); Thiemo De Bakker
(Net) bt Rajeev Ram (8, US) 6-1, 6-1

DAY II — Round I: Michael Russell (US) bt Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Marcel Gra
nollers (Esp) bt James Ward (GBR) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Robin Soderling
(1, Swe) 6-4, 7-5; Somdev Dev Varman (Ind) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 7-5, 6-2; Dudi
Sela (5, Isr) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-1, 6-2; Michael Berrer (7, Ger) bt Santiago Ventura
(Esp) 6-3, 6-2; Robin Haase (Net) bt Yang Tsung-hua (Tai) 6-4, 6-3; Lukas Lacko (Svk) bt Lu Yen-hsun (Tai) 6-4, 6-3