Buenos Aires (Argentina): Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal notched up a straight-set win over home favourite Facundo Bognis to claim the men’s singles title at the USD 54,160 ATP Challenger Tournament here.
The 22-year-old from Haryana, seeded seventh, outclassed 8th seed Bognis of Argentina 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 37 minutes to win the title.
The seventh seed had beaten Francisco Cerundolo in the quarter-finals before landing a big blow in the semi-finals where he crushed Brazil’s fourth-seeded Thiago Monteiro 6-0, 6-1.It was Sumit’s second Challenger title of his career, following the triumph in the Bengaluru Challenger event in 2017.
“Brilliant performance @nagalsumit and I extend hearty Congratulations on Winning ATP Buenos Aires Challenger Title. Sumit Nagal will enter Top 135 in Rankings!,” Sports minister Kiren Rijiju wrote on his twitter handle. The talented youngster jumped of 26 spots to achieve a career-best ranking of 135 on Monday. Last month, Nagal grabbed headlines after he made his Grand Slam debut and produced a spirited fight against the legendary Roger Federer in the first round of the US Open where he took the first set 6-4. Shaken by the resolve shown by his younger
the opponent who was making his Grand Slam debut, Federer launched a strong comeback by winning the next three sets to enter the second round.
Following that sparkling debut, Nagal then made it to the final of Banja Luka Challenger in September where he lost to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in the summit clash.
