 "Wimbledon 2024: Sumit Nagal goes down fighting to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in first round")
India’s Sumit Nagal on Monday bowed out of the 2024 Wimbledon championships following a first-round defeat to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in four sets. Nagal, a former boys doubles champion at Wimbledon, fought hard before going down to Kecmanovic with a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 scoreline in a match that lasted two hours and 48 minutes at SW19.
This was Nagal’s first-ever match in the main draw of Wimbledon , and despite showcasing some brilliance on the court with 47 winners, he seemed to struggle with consistency as he committed as many as 44 unforced errors.
The 26 year-old was no match for Kecmanovic in the first set, going down 2-6, but fought back hard to win the second set 6-3 with some clean hitting and great coverage of the court. However, the Serb was resilient enough to win the third set 6-3 before sealing the deal in the fourth set with 6-4.
Kecmanovic, the 53rd ranked Serbian, hit six aces during the match and endured just two double faults against Nagal. Nagal, who will compete in the Paris Olympics later in July , had become the first Indian to qualify for the men’s singles main draw of Wimbledon in five years. Prajnesh Gunneswaran was last Indian before Nagal to do so, having made a first-round exit in 2019.
Earlier this year, the Haryana-born athlete had also qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open in Melbourne. He had beaten Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, seeded 31, in the first round of the Australian Open, thus becoming the first Indian male player to beat a seeded player in 35 years in a Grand Slam tournament.
Nagal had also qualified for the Indian Wells Masters and Monte Carlo Masters, both of which are ATP 1000 events. Nagal has two Challenger title victories to his name this season, having won the Heilbronn Challenger and the Chennai Open ATP Challenger. He had also made the first round in this year’s French Open going down to Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 in the first round.
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