India’s Sumit Nagal defeated former World No 38 Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-4 in the third and final qualifying round match on Friday to qualify for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
The 25-year-old Slovakian had famously defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in a Davis Cup match in World Group I in Greece in September last year.
“What a battle out there today. Delighted to make the main draw of the Australian Open,” he posted on X after defeating Molcan on Friday.
Nagal is currently ranked 139th in the world ranking in singles. This is the first time he will play in the main round of a Grand Slam event since 2021 (and the fourth overall time).
He had made it to the main round of the US Open in 2019 and 2020, and then featured in the Australian Open main draw in 2021. Back then, Nagal had lost to Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the opening round 2-6, 5-7, 3-6.
Nagal will now face Kazakhstan’s World No 31 Alexander Bublik in the first round.
Nagal broke Molcan in his opening service game and led 3-0 n the first set before the 26-year-old from Slovakia broke back and levelled at 3-3. Nagal though held his nerve and won the opening set 6-4 after an intense 51 minutes.
He eventually prevailed in two hours and three minutes, his victory sealed after his opponent double faulted at 30-40 in the 10th game of the second set.
Glad to be moving forward in Melbourne. We go again tomorrow 💪🏽
📽️ @eretzsportmed11/@eurosport pic.twitter.com/yyZU1tueVp
— Sumit Nagal (@nagalsumit) January 11, 2024
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In the second round of qualifying, the Indian had defeated Australian Edward Winter, a wild card, by a 6-3, 6-2 scoreline in a match that lasted one hour and four minutes.
It was in 2019, that Nagal had famously taken then legendary Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer to four sets at Flushing Meadows before losing. At the start of last year, Nagal was ranked 501 in the world, but ended 2023 climbing to World No 141 spot.
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