India’s Sumit Nagal got his first main draw win on the ATP Tour on Tuesday when he reached the second round of the Argentina Open after coming through qualifying at the ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires.
The 23-year-old has won a Grand Slam match in the past but was yet to go past the first round on the ATP Tour. He crossed that milestone with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 win over world No 100 Joao Sousa in the first round of the clay court event. He won the last 11 games of the match after dropping serve early in the match.
The world No 150 next faces a challenging clash against second seed Cristian Garin.
Earlier, the Indian came through three tough qualifying matches to reach the main draw in Argentina. He beat Nicolas Kicker 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final qualifying round and Mario Vilella Martinez 6-4, 6-2 in the second. But the most stringent test was the first round where he battled for over three hours to beat Carlos Gomez-Herrera 7-6(2) 2-6 7-6(2).
The world No 150 went down the South American clay-court route after his first-round loss at the Australian Open. He fell in the first qualifying round at Cordoba Open before his good run in Buenos Aires.
ATP 250 - Argentina Open, Buenos Aires day three will be broadcast on Eurosport from 09:30 pm IST onward on Wednesday.
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