London, June 24 (IANS): India's lone representative in men's singles at Wimbledon, Somdev Devvarman was knocked out from the first round itself after he lost a five-set battle to Polish 15th seed Jerzy Janowicz here Tuesday.
World No.125 Devvarman lost 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 in three hours and four minutes but not before giving a tough fight to the World No.25 by making him go the distance on Court No.17.
Devvarman took off well clinching the first set in 39 minutes but his opponent came back strongly to break the Indian twice in the second set and once in the third to take the lead in the match.
The unseeded Indian found legs in the fourth set to push the match into the decider but by then Devvarman went out of steam to lose the match.
The Pole was struggling with his serve throughout the match as he double faulted 19 times to Devvarman's four but won the six crucial break points to the Indian's four to clinch three sets and the match.
To his credit, Devvarman had 14 aces, six more than Janowicz, but the winner had 13 more winners with 61.