Hamburg Open | Sumit Nagal beats Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to book maiden ATP 500 main draw appearance

07/22/2019

Young Indian tennis ace Sumit Nagal stunned world no. 128 Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets to book a place in the Hamburg Open, which would be his career’s first ATP 500 event. Nagal has been quite successful of late in the Challengers, making it to as many as five semi-finals.

21-year-old Nagal has been in some stupendous form of late and it was on display in the second and final qualifying round of the clay court event as he defeated Fokina 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to land himself a maiden appearance in the main draw of an ATP 500 tournament.

Ranked 205 in the world, Nagal has previously competed in the main draw of the ATP 250 Tata Open Maharashtra last year as a qualifier. And with ATP 500 events next only to ATP Masters 1000 tournaments and the Grand Slams, this has been a huge climb for the Indian.

Indian tennis players have become regulars in the big stages of late with the likes of Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswarana and Yuki Bhambri all showing promise on the international circuit.

Nagal has advanced into five semi-finals of late and also recorded the biggest career win against world number 56 Martin Klizan at Bratisilava Open last month. Starting the year outside the 350-bracket, Nagal has been extremely close to being in top-200.

Nagal will take on renown French star Richard Gasquet in the first round.