 "Sumit Nagal had a memorable game against world number seven Holger Rune, winning a set against him. Image: TennisTV")
Sumit Nagal, who created history at Monte Carlo Masters a few days back, put up another brave fight on Thursday before losing to world number seven Holger Rune in a rain-hit match on Thursday. After going down the first set, Nagal bounced back by winning the second set against one of the best players in the world before losing his serve twice in the final set costed him the game.
Nagal was 3-6, 1-2 behind in the second set when rain interrupted the match on Wednesday. Upon resumption, the 26-year-old from Jhajjar scripted a memorable comeback to win the second set 6-3. In the final set, he lost his serve in the second game before levelling back. Rune broke Nagal’s serve once again in the sixth game to win the second round match 3-6, 6-3, 2-6.
In the first round, Nagal became the first Indian player to win a singles main draw match at an ATP Masters event on clay after scripting a come-from-behind win against World No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi in a three-setter.
The Indian tennis star, who is currently ranked 93 in the world, was disappointed with his defeat on Thursday but added the overall performance at the tournament has made him “very happy”.
“Obviously I didn’t like the way I finished the match. I think I could have done better, served better,” Nagal said after his defeat to Rune. “There were a few minor errors that changed the score so much. But other than that, If you look at the tournament overall, happy with the way I played the first three rounds and the last match, you know, a little bit up and down. Other than that, very happy with it.”
Nagal added that the improvement in the conditions on Thursday allowed him to play a better brand of tennis and clinch a set against Rune.
“Keeping the weather and condition in mind, especially yesterday, I felt like I was a little bit more nervous in the first set. Coming back here again, having played a set yesterday, made me feel a little bit better on the court. And I think that was one of the biggest change. And of course today conditions were a little bit different than yesterday, which I enjoyed.”
Talking about his upcoming plans, Nagal said that he will be trying to play in Madrid and Rome Open.
“We’ll be playing mostly in Madrid and Rome and then head to Paris. So it depends how everything is going and which tournament the team decides to play.”
Earlier in the Qualifiers, Nagal had defeated eight seed Flavio Cobolli and third seed Facundo Diaz Acosto to reach the main draw of the tournament.