Sumit Nagal’s splendid run at the Argentina Open came to an end in the quarter-final after a hard-fought three-set loss to veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Friday.
The fifth seed came from a set down to beat the Indian qualifier 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes on Friday night at the ATP 250 clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires.
The world No 150 started strong and took the first set with the only break point of the set. He played a clean game and attacked the Spaniard with his forehand to take the early advantage on his favoured clay courts.
However, the experienced world No 46 bounced back to take the second set with two straight breaks of serve, as errors creeped into the Indian’s game.
The third set was the most action-packed of the lot. Ramos-Vinolas got the early break and was one game away from the semi-finals but Nagal bounced back from 2-5 to make it 5-5, breaking the fifth seed while serving for the match.
Ramos-Vinolas then upped the ante and secured the match with a break as the 23-year-old Indian finally seemed to run out of steam towards the end.
Nonetheless, it was a breakthrough week for the young Indian as he came through a tough, three-round qualifying, registered his first-ever main draw match win on the ATP Tour. He then stunned second seed Cristian Garin to reach his first quarter-final for his first win over a top 25 player on tour.
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