Sumit Nagal stuns Bublik, advances to Grand Slam 2nd round after 3 years

Listen to Story Sumit Nagal, on Tuesday, made his way through to the second round of the men’s singles in the Australian Open 2024. 3 years ago, Nagal couldn’t qualify for the second round at Melbourne Park after losing in straight sets to Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. But this time around, Nagal did not falter as he defeated Alexander Bublik 6 4, 6 2, 7 6 (6 1) to advance to his maiden second round in the hard court tournament.

It also happened to be the second time that Nagal qualified beyond the first round of a Grand Slam. In the 2020 US Open, Nagal defeated Bradley Klahn 6 1, 6 3, 3 6, 6 1 before losing to Dominic Thiem in the second round. He also became the first Indian in 35 years to beat a seeded player in Grand Slam men’s singles after Ramesh Krishnan defeated Mats Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open.

Nagal, earlier, had to come where he won three matches after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) denied him a wildcard. Nagal will next be up against the winner of the match between Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang and Mackenzie McDonald, who defeated Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open last year.

The 26 year old was at his very best against Bubik, who is ranked No.27 in the world, 110 places above Nagal (No.137). He went a break up, although Bublik got it back to make it 1 1. However, Nadal raced to a 4 1 lead with two more breaks in the set. This time, Bublik felt the heat as Nagal closed out the set.

In the second set, Nagal went a break up early to take a 1 0 after which he did not look back. In the third set, he again seized the initiative with an early break of serve. At 5 4 in the first set, Nagal had the chance to serve out the set and the match, but Bublik responded with a break of serve and managed to take the match into the tie breaker.

At 6 3, Nagal earned himself two match points, but Bublik saved two of them to stay alive. In the end, Nagal prevailed after a double fault from Bublik. Bublik made 9 double faults and 44 unforced errors that led to his downfall. He pulled off 41 winners, 12 more than Nagal, and 13 aces but they were not enough to get the better of his opponent..