India number one Somdev Devvarman on Tuesday recorded the biggest win of his career by beating world number five Juan Martin Del Potro but the victory came when the Argentine retired mid-way into the first round match of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, here.
Somdev, ranked 78, had won the first set 7-6 (3) in an hour and seven minutes and immediately after this, Del Potro took a medical timeout due to pain in his left wrist. The Argentine second seed found it tough to continue and conceded the match. Somdev had lost 4-6 4-6 to Del Potro last year at this very event in the pre-quarterfinals.
This is Somdev's first ever win against a top-5 player who is also a Grand Slam champion. Del Potro is the 2009 US Open winner. Somdev has competed against the legends of the game, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic but has not won against any of them, although he fought well against all these multiple Grand Slam winners.
He lost to Nadal in 2011 at Indian Wells Masters in two close sets and the same year he had lost to Federer at this very Dubai event.last year in his second meeting against the Swiss legend at the Roland Garros, he suffered a tame defeat in the second round.