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Sumit Nagal (Source - X)
Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal earned his best-ever ranking (71st) in the updated ATP rankings despite losing the Perugia Challenger final on Sunday against Luciano Darderi in a lacklustre match. Notably, the star player lost 1-6, 2-6 in the final match, which lasted a little over an hour, but he still had enough for celebration.
Sumit Nagal took part in 10 matches over the last 12 days, ending in a winning campaign in Heilbronn, Germany, where he won his sixth Challenger title. Following that the victory propelled him into the 70s (77) in the ATP Rankings, placing him in contention for a spot in the men's singles category at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he will be representing India.
Meanwhile, during his crucial game, Sumit Nagal battled to find the rhythm against the 41-seed Darderi, starting his match slowly following his semifinal win over Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles in a thrilling three-set match. Following the win in the semi-final game, the Italian easily won the first set after breaking Nagal's serve on three occasions. Then, after the first set, Nagal broke Darderi's serve to make it 1-2, but he failed to continue the magnificent form like in the semi-final, which made him lose this game. Talking about his few past games, Nagal won the Chennai Challenger earlier this year after a spectacular breakthrough in the Australian Open second round.
What a fortnight! Left it all out there on the court in the last couple of weeks 🥵
— Sumit Nagal (@nagalsumit) June 16, 2024
Super proud of the results. Time to rest and recover for Wimbledon 🌱
📸 Daniele Combi pic.twitter.com/foUW6POFzH
The title win would have placed Sumit Nagal in under top-50 rankings
On the other hand, top-seeded Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico beat India's N Sriram Balaji and his German partner Andre Begemann in the doubles final, 4-6, 5-7.
Meanwhile, Nagal has now won nine straight rounds since the beginning of this month's Heilbronn Challenger in Germany. He failed to win his second straight Challenger title, which would put him in a race for a top-50 ranking.