Plucky Nagal overpowers Wong to make quarters

Bengaluru: The scoreline of Sumit Nagal’s win over Coleman Wong read 6-2, 7-5. It appears to be a fairly straight-forward affair, except it wasn’t. 

There were no dearth of unforced errors, double faults and even a few shanks coming from the rackets of both the players on the court. But Nagal, who was slightly more disciplined with his aggression compared to Wong during crucial junctions of the 1 hour 46-minute battle, crossed the finish line first to enter the quarterfinal of the dafaNews Bengaluru Open here on Thursday. 

The Indian, looking more well-rested than he did in his previous match, had to mostly keep the ball in play against an error-filled Wong in the first set at the KSLTA. 

At the beginning of the second, the 98th-ranked Nagal continued to move swiftly around the court while Wong struggled to find his rhythm. The momentum shift happened in the third game when the Hong Kong player, a trainee at the Rafael Nadal Academy, earned three break points that Nagal eventually went on to save and hold 2-1. 

That window of hope gave Wong enough confidence to stage a fightback and break his 26-year-old opponent’s serve to go ahead 3-2 for the first time in the match.

Undeterred by the mini scare, Nagal took his chances by aiming for the lines that worked in his favour. 

With his nose in front at 6-5, a forehand crosscourt pass winner at his first match point in the 13th game saw Nagal close out the match the way he would have liked to. 

Now it’s back to some ice bath, massage and sleep before he gets on to the court in less than 24 hours to play for a semifinal spot.

In the other significant match of the day, seventh seed Stefano Napolitano of Italy took out Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, a former top-30 player, in a three-set 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 thriller. 

Results: Singles: Round of 16 (prefix denotes seeding): 5-Adam Walton (Aus) bt gauthier Onclin (Bel) 6-2, 6-2; Moez Echargui (Tun) bt Enrico Dalla Valle (Ita) 6-2, 6-2; 7-Stefano Napolitano (Ita) bt WC-Vasek Pospisil (Can) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 2-Sumit Nagal (Ind) bt Coleman Wong (HKG) 6-2, 7-5.

Doubles: Quarterfinal: Bittoun Kouzmine/ Maxime Janvier (Fra) bt Moez Echargui (Tun)/ Roca Batalla (ESP) 1-6, 6-2, 10-5; Francis Casey Alcantara (Phi)/ Kaichi Uchida (Jpn) bt Tristan Schoolkate (Aus)/ Adam Walton (Aus) 1-6, 6-2, 10-7; Piotr Matuszewski (Pol)/ Matthew Christopher Romios (Aus) bt Blancaneaux/ Bonzi (Fra) 6-3, 7-5.