US Open 2019: India's Sumit Nagal goes down fighting against Swiss ace Roger Federer in first round

New York: Indian qualifier Sumit Nagal took a set off the great Roger Federer before losing his first-ever Grand Slam match at the US Open here on Tuesday. Playing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, World No 190 Nagal did not let the occasion get the better of him and played some fine tennis to win the first set before going down fighting to the holder of a record 20 Grand Slam titles 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 4-6. [caption id=“attachment_7232131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Roger Federer stretches for a return against Sumit Nagal during the first round of the US Open in New York. AP[/caption] The 23-year-old Jhajjar-born player had won three tough qualifying rounds to enter the main draw. The Swiss third seed, a five-time champion in New York, produced 19 unforced errors to surprisingly drop the first set against a player without a tour-level win. But the 38-year-old bounced back to clinch his 1,224th career victory and book a meeting with Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur. “I played like my beard today. I was rusty,” Federer said. The shock first set was a wake-up call for Federer, who was 61-0 in Grand Slam first rounds since the 2003 French Open. “Just tried to forget it, play tough, stay with him. It was a tough first set for me,” Federer said. “He came back and played really strong. I was missing a lot of balls and trying to cut back on unforced errors.” With AFP inputs