Sumit Nagal created historical past as he grew to become the primary ever Indian man to file a main-draw win at Monte Carlo Masters, beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi within the first spherical on Monday.
The unseeded 93rd-ranked Nagal, who is simply the third Indian to characteristic in the primary attract Monte Carlo after Vijay Amritraj (1977) and Ramesh Krishnan (1982), got here from a set right down to beat World No. 38 Arnaldi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours 37 minutes and recorded his third win over a Prime-50 participant.
Nagal can also be the primary ever Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay because the sequence started in 1990. The Indian will subsequent face seventh-seeded Dane and final 12 months’s runner-up Holger Rune.
“Milestone are good. I performed a very good match. Sadly, I didn’t win the primary set despite the fact that I felt I used to be enjoying good tennis. Hats off to Arnaldi for it. Within the second and third set, I believe I performed at a very excessive degree, did the issues that I needed to do and was capable of end the match with a very good service sport,” mentioned Nagal after the win.
Arnaldi broke Nagal to go 4-2 up within the opening set however the Indian broke again instantly. Nonetheless, serving to remain within the set at 5-6, Nagal went down 15-40. He saved one break level the 23-year-old Italian transformed the second with a crosscourt winner to bag the primary set.
“I knew I used to be profitable many of the factors when the rallies have been getting longer. So, my aim was to determine the technique from first set to second set. As soon as I used to be capable of management the factors, I felt it grew to become a bit of bit simpler for me to play.”
Within the second set, Nagal dominated Arnaldi and broke him twice to race to a 4-1 lead. Whereas the Italian acquired one break of serve again, the Indian restored the benefit instantly earlier than serving out the set.
Within the decider, Nagal broke Arnaldi within the third sport however the Italian restored parity at 3-3. Nonetheless, Nagal broke him once more within the seventh sport and this time, managed to maintain his lead intact to shut the set.
Earlier, Nagal defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli (World No. 63) 6-2, 6-3 and Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta (World No. 53) 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to qualify for the primary draw.
That is Nagal’s second look in an ATP Masters 1000 occasion in what has been a significant season in his profession. He acquired into the primary attract Indian Wells as a fortunate loser after Rafael Nadal pulled out.
The 26-year-old Nagal started the season by qualifying for the primary draw of the Australian Open the place he shocked Thirty first-seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik within the opening spherical.
He then gained the Chennai Open ATP Challenger to make his Prime 100 debut within the ATP Rankings.