Geneva Open: Sumit Nagal crashes out after losing to Sebastian Baez

Sumit Nagal failed to go through to the second round of the Geneva Open after losing to Argentina’s Sebastian Baez in straight sets. The Argentine won the match 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, and now has a 21-11 record this season.

In the opening set, Nagal was 4-1 up and in a dominant position. However, he lost momentum and could never get a foothold back into the contest. World No. 19 Baez took some time to get on his feet before he dictated terms to the opposition.

After conceding an early break, Baez made a strong comeback to break Nagal’s serve twice. In fact, he did not give his Indian opponent a second chance to break his serve. Baez outclassed him with both his first and second serves.

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Sumit Nagal comes up the ranks

Ever since beating Alexander Bublik in the Australian Open earlier this year, Nagal has taken giant strides in his career. After winning the Chennai Open, he broke into the top 100 of the rankings for the first time.

Recently, Nagal became the first Indian male player after Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019 to qualify for the main draw of the French Open, which is scheduled to get underway on May 26. Last month, Nagal achieved his career-best ranking of 80 during the Monte Carlo Masters.

After beating World No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi, he became the first Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay. In his second-round match, Nagal gave the mighty Holger Rune a run for his money.

After losing the first set, Nagal won the second to take the match into the decider. But Rune brought forth all his experience to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

With the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open coming up, all eyes will be on the Indian star. Nagal is currently ranked 93rd in the world.