India's Sumit Nagal tasted a piece of history when he became the first Indian to reach the second round of the Australian Open after 11 years. The Indian No.1 Tennis star outclassed 31st-seeded Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-4,6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to progress into the second round of the prestigious tournament.
Before Nagal, India's Somdev Devvarman was the last Indian to progress into the second round of the Australian Open a feat Somdev achieved at the 2013 Australian Open. Sumit has made his way to the main draw of the Grand Slam from the qualifying tournament.
Nagal first Indian to beat seeded player since 1989
The 26-year-old Indian is the first from his country to beat a seeded player at any Grand Slam since 1989. The last Indian to beat a seeded one was Ramesh Krishnan, who stunningly defeated the then World No.1 Mats Wilander in the second round of the 1989 Australian Open.
Nagal was on song in the match against Bublik. He did not drop a set throughout the game and broke his set several times on his way to the win. He was at 5-4 in the third set and was serving for the match but lost the game as Bublik broke his serve. The Kazakhstan tennis star then won his serve to lead 6-5 before Nagal hit back to take the set in a tiebreaker. The Indian star was sailing well in the tie-breaker too with a 4-1 lead before Bublik made a comeback. Nagal had three match points at 6-3 but the 31st-seeded saved two of them before running out of fuel and erred with a double fault to concede the match as the Indian erupted in joy.
He won a total of 110 points and 60 on his serve. Nagal broke Bublik six times in the match, while the Kazakh broke three times. Bublik also made several errors as he made nine double faults, including the one that caused him the match. Nagal will now face the winner between Chin's Juncheng Shang and USA's Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the main draw.
