Continuing his giant-killing spree, young Sumit Nagal today scalped country's top singles player Yuki Bhambri in the Bengaluru Open and earned a chance to win his maiden Challenger-level title.
Coming into the match after an upset win over top seed Blaz Kavcic, Nagal, ranked 321 knocked out Bhambri 6-4 6-0 in the semifinals of the USD 100,000 hard court event at the KSLTA Courts.
The 20-year-old Indian will now fight it out with Britain's 19-year-old Jay Clarke, who dispatched Taiwan's Yang Tsung-Hua 6-3 6-4.
"The pressure was on Yuki. Because he is number one and if he wins here, he will be in the main draw of the Australian Open. All that was playing on his mind. On the other hand, I had a simple approach and played aggressively," he said at the post-match press conference.
After seven games on serve, Nagal broke Bhambri in the eighth and kept the lead to serve out the set.
With no sign of a fight from Yuki, ranked 122, Nagal went on to claim the match without dropping a game in the second set.
"I felt I had to be aggressive against him and it worked," Nagal said.
However, Yuki said he had a very bad day because he did not get his plan going right at any point of the match.
Talking about tomorrow's match, Nagal said he knows Clarke's game because they have played against each other on the junior circuit.
"I will play with the same attitude, with an aggressive attitude. I won last two matches against Kavcic and Yuki, and it worked. So, why should then I change my attitude for the finals tomorrow?" he quipped.
