France

Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal created history on Monday (April 8) by beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the first round of the Monte Carlos Masters and becoming the first Indian male player to record a main draw win in this tournament. Nagal also became the first Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay and will next face seventh-seeded Dane and last year’s runner-up Holger Rune.

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The unseeded 95th-ranked Nagal claimed a stunning victory over world no. 35 in two hours and 37 minutes, beating Arnaldi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Nagal, who also became only the third Indian after Vijay Amritraj (1977) and Ramesh Krishnan (1982) to feature in Monte Carlos main draw, came from a set behind to win the game and enter history books.

The Italian led Nagal 4-2 in the first set before he returned soon after, making it 5-6 in Arnaldi’s favour. Serving to save the game and the first set, Nagal went down 15-40, and while he did save one break point, the young Italian won the first set.

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The second set saw Nagal taking advantage of the situation immediately, leading 4-1 at one stage. Although the Italian won on his serve, Nagal walked away with the second-set victory, pushing the game to the decider.

In the third and the final set, the Indian star broke Arnaldi’s serve, but his opponent held his nerves to make it 3-3. That comeback from the Italian couldn’t stop Nagal from approaching victory as he beat his serve in the seventh game to stay ahead and win the set and the match.

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Meanwhile, India’s Nagal defeated world no. 63 from Italy Flavio Cobolli (6-2, 6-3) and Facundo Diaz Acosta from Argentina in three sets (7-5, 2-6, 6-2) to qualify for the main draw.

However, this is his second ATP Masters 1000 event appearance. Nagal also qualified for the main draw in Indian Wells as a lucky loser after Spaniard and legend Rafael Nadal pulled out.

Nagal began the season with a bang, winning against world no. 31 Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the opening round of the Australian Open.