Sumit Nagal Becomes 1st Indian Male Tennis Player to Qualify for 2nd Round in 25 Yrs

NEW DELHI: India's Sumit Nagal defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the men's singles match of the tennis event of the Tokyo Olympics.

In this match played at Ariake Tennis Court No. 10, world number 144 singles player Nagal defeated Istomin 6-4, 7-6, 6-4. The match lasted 2 hours 34 minutes.

He got a chance to break Istomin's serve in the sixth game of the first set which he missed. He won the first set by breaking Istomin's serve. He was leading 4-1 in the second set as well, but the pressure got over him and could not save his serve.

Istomin pulled the match to the tiebreaker. Nagal kept the momentum going in the last set. He will now face world number two Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

India's Zeeshan Ali was the first player to win a singles match by defeating Paraguay's Victo Caballero in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. India won a bronze medal in tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The medal was won by Leander Paes. This is India's only medal so far in tennis.

Sumit Nagal secured a place on the basis of his ranking after many players who were supposed to play in the men's singles event have withdrawn their names from the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo. He is currently ranked 144th in the ATP rankings, but he is India's top-ranked player.

Sumit achieved his career-best ranking last year; he reached 122nd place in August.