Despite a valiant effort, India’s Sumit Nagal lost his rain-affected second-round match in the Monte Carlo Masters here on Thursday, falling to world number seven Holger Rune in the first set. When the second-round match resumed on Wednesday after being postponed due to rain on Tuesday, Nagal showed incredible fortitude and tenacity by claiming the second set and threatening to spoil Rune’s celebration. But in the last set, he dropped his serve twice.
Sumit Nagal Loses To Rune In The Second Game
The skies parted while the Indian qualifier, ranked ninth versus Rune, was trailing 1-2 in the second set. After fighting valiantly for two hours and eleven minutes in the renowned clay court event, he lost 3-6, 6-3, and 2-6. He did, however, have a memorable tournament as he became the first Indian to win a clay-court Masters singles main draw match.
In the second game of the championship set, the 26-year-old Nagal gave up the lead after dropping his serve, but he quickly rallied and maintained his own serve to tie it 2-2. But in the sixth game, he lost his serve once more, and that was where the match ended.
Sumit Nagal’s Journey
During the qualifying round, 95th-ranked Sumit Nagal defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, rated 63rd in the world, 6-2, 6-3, and then defeated 55th-ranked Argentine Diaz Acosta, ranked 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, in the second round.
In the process, Sumit Nagal made history by becoming the first tennis player from India to qualify for the ATP Masters 1000 main event in forty-two years. The latest Indian to compete in the Monaco event’s main draw was Ramesh Krishnan in 1982.
The 26-year-old Sumit Nagal defeated Italian world No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to cap off his incredible run at Monaco. It was Nagal’s second victory of the year and his third overall victory over a top-50 opponent. Nagal became the first Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 singles match on clay with his victory over Arnaldi.
The Indian tennis player upset world No. 27 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the first round of the Australian Open earlier this year. In 2021, the player defeated Cristian Garin of Chile, who was ranked No. 22 at the time, at the Argentina Open.
In the meantime, Mate Pavić of Croatia and Marcelo Arévalo of El Salvador defeated India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden in their round of 16 men’s doubles match on Wednesday.
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