India No. 1, men’s singles player, Sumit Nagal, is on a record-breaking spree.
Just a few days ago, he became the first Indian since Ramesh Krishnan in 42 years to reach the singles main draw of the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters, one of the three clay court Masters 1000 events.
While Ramesh Krishnan competed in the main draw, he lost in the opening round itself, but Nagal had another plan. Not only did he enter the main draw, he conquered the opening round as well.
His first match in the main draw was against Italian star and World No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi, and this was not his first encounter against him.
They previously met each other in 2019 at the qualifying round of the Barletta Challenger in Italy, where Nagal was victorious after a hard-fought 6-3, 7-5 battle. So, excitement was on a high level among Indians regarding this match.
And Nagal didn’t disappoint anyone.
His start was not a great one, though, as he lost his first set 5-7, much to the dislike of the Indian audience present there. But the disappointment turned to cheers as he made a thumping
comeback and took the second set 6-2.
Then there was no stopping Nagal,
as he took the third and final set 6-4 with a loud cheer from the Indian audience celebrating his victory.
This was Nagal’s 4th Top 100 win this year (in terms of ranking). He started this year by defeating World No. 27 Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the Australian Open 2024.
Then he went on to defeat World No. 63 Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-2 6-3 in the
first round of the qualifying event of the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters before moving forward to defeat World No. 55 Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 7-5 2-6 6-2 in the second round to reach the main draw of the event.
Next, he faces a tough draw against World No. 7 Holger Rune of Denmark in the Round of 32 match. Whatever the result, Nagal’s name has been etched in the history books of Indian tennis
Written By Naman Jain
