Sumit Nagal has done it; he’s won at the Challenger Chennai. The 26-year-old has been in great touch at the ATP 100K event, winning the title without dropping a set. Apart from being his fifth title on the Challenger Tour, the victory also marked his entry into the ATP Top 100 for the very first time in his career.
This title run at the Challenger Chennai is the second time Nagal has won a title in India and the first second title on a hard court since his run in Bangalore in 2017.
Luca Nardi, no match for Sumit Nagal
Sumit Nagal is playing consistent tennis, while Luca Nardi is spewing errors left and right. A horrible overhead in his first service game helped Nagal run away with the break, and he consolidated it on his serve to go 3-0 up. Coming off the back of two tough three-setters, Nardi seemed to be tired to begin with.
He eventually held serve and put himself on the board. However, errors continued to flow from the Italian’s racket. Nardi tried to push Nagal in the fifth service game of the first set, but the Indian ace pulled through to go 4-1 up.
Sumit Nagal ran away with the next two games, first breaking Nardi and sealing the set on his serve (6-1) in just 36 minutes.
The second set started well for Luca Nardi as he held serve. However, he was broken once again by Sumit Nagal, who started to run away. The Italian remained persistent and broke India back, leveling things at 3-3.
The Indian ace struck in the very next game, taking a lead (4-3) once again, but got broken immediately after as the tumultuous second set continued. The pattern continued as Nagal broke Nardi, making it the fifth straight break of serve.
The 26-year-old Indian eventually served out the match and won it 6-1, 6-4 in 1 hour and 2 minutes.
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