Chennai: India’s top-ranked men’s singles player Sumit Nagal secured an easy victory in the final of the Chennai Open Challenger here on Sunday. Nagal cruised past top seed Luca Nardi of Italy 6-1, 6-4 at the SDAT Tennis Stadium to clinch his fifth Challenger title and entered the top-100 of the world rankings for the first time in his career.
Nardi did not have the greatest of starts and mistakes at crucial moments from the Italian helped Nagal go a break up.The shoulder injury that had bothered Nagal in his semifinal win seemed a thing of the past as the Indian did enough to build on the break.
Nardi tried to test Nagal on his backhand but it was not enough. Towards the end of the set, Nardi was tiring and the 26-year-old Nagal did not have too many difficulties wrapping it up.
In the second set, it was once again Nagal who stepped on the accelerator to go a couple of breaks up. But Nardi was not ready to give in without a fight and he broke Nagal twice to level the scores 4-4. In the ninth game, Nardi committed three unforced errors, two being back-to-back. Nagal, too, hit a superb forehand taking Nardi by surprise.
Serving for the match, Nagal did not hit the first serves well. But he showed composure to save two break points and held on to win the championship.
Nardi had less than 24 hours to recover from a gruelling three hour-three minute long three-set semifinal against Jason Tseng. It was evident that it had taken a lot out of him and Nagal was ready to make the most of it.
Nagal was emotional, trying to soak in the moment of winning another title, and more importantly finding himself in the elite club of the top 100 players in the world. “Feeling very emotional now. I could not have asked for a better place to win the title. It has been tough for the past few years (getting surgery done, not having financial support and ranking outside the top-500) with a lot of ups and downs. I am very happy that I have found a way to push every single day and give myself a chance to be here,” Nagal said.
“I have never seen (in my career) such a big crowd for a Challenger event in India. I am thankful to the people who came to support me. Further, I would like to thank all the people who have been supporting me. Somdev Devvarman has been involved in the set-up for a long time and one of the reasons I like working with him is, he is very calm, and I am on the opposite side. I am learning to stay calm and patient which will help me in becoming a better player,” Nagal added.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the last Indian to reach the top-100 of the ATP rankings in 2019.
And after five years, Nagal will enter the coveted mark. “It is such a proud feeling and I hope this win can push more people to pursue singles careers,” Nagal, who made the Australian Open second round in January, said.
Nardi did not have the greatest of starts and mistakes at crucial moments from the Italian helped Nagal go a break up.The shoulder injury that had bothered Nagal in his semifinal win seemed a thing of the past as the Indian did enough to build on the break.
Nardi tried to test Nagal on his backhand but it was not enough. Towards the end of the set, Nardi was tiring and the 26-year-old Nagal did not have too many difficulties wrapping it up.
In the second set, it was once again Nagal who stepped on the accelerator to go a couple of breaks up. But Nardi was not ready to give in without a fight and he broke Nagal twice to level the scores 4-4. In the ninth game, Nardi committed three unforced errors, two being back-to-back. Nagal, too, hit a superb forehand taking Nardi by surprise.
Serving for the match, Nagal did not hit the first serves well. But he showed composure to save two break points and held on to win the championship.
Nardi had less than 24 hours to recover from a gruelling three hour-three minute long three-set semifinal against Jason Tseng. It was evident that it had taken a lot out of him and Nagal was ready to make the most of it.
Nagal was emotional, trying to soak in the moment of winning another title, and more importantly finding himself in the elite club of the top 100 players in the world. “Feeling very emotional now. I could not have asked for a better place to win the title. It has been tough for the past few years (getting surgery done, not having financial support and ranking outside the top-500) with a lot of ups and downs. I am very happy that I have found a way to push every single day and give myself a chance to be here,” Nagal said.
“I have never seen (in my career) such a big crowd for a Challenger event in India. I am thankful to the people who came to support me. Further, I would like to thank all the people who have been supporting me. Somdev Devvarman has been involved in the set-up for a long time and one of the reasons I like working with him is, he is very calm, and I am on the opposite side. I am learning to stay calm and patient which will help me in becoming a better player,” Nagal added.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the last Indian to reach the top-100 of the ATP rankings in 2019.
And after five years, Nagal will enter the coveted mark. “It is such a proud feeling and I hope this win can push more people to pursue singles careers,” Nagal, who made the Australian Open second round in January, said.