Washington, Aug 7 - Somdev Devvarman's dream run at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic here ended when the Indian could not repeat his Chennai Open victory against big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic and lost 5-7, 1-6.

The back-to-back US college champion, who knocked out Karlovic's compatriot sixth-seeded Marin Cilic in the second round, had beaten Karlovic 7-6, 6-4, in the run-up to the Chennai final in January, but Thursday he lost the battle after taking the first set to a tie.

The India Number One, who had attacked Karlovic's second serve, pinning him to his backhand, was at his wits' end when the Croat fired 63 percent of his booming first serves.

Devvarman could not find an answer to the leading aces server on the Tour as Karlovic struck 14 aces, 11 of these in the first set. Though the Indian himself hit 70 percent of his first serves, he was broken in the last game of the first set and twice in the second set.

Somdev said it was pretty tough to do anything when Karlovic was serving so well and that the momentum swung the Croat's way after the first set.

'It's really hard to break his serve when he is serving that well. I was doing well and then he got the break. Momentum went his way after that.'

After the impressive showing here and his qualification for the LA Open main draw, Devvarman will jump some 10 spots in the rankings, 143rd after reaching a career-high of 127 last month, when the rankings are announced Monday.