India's top player Sumit Nagal crashed out of the US Open, the last major of the season, after suffering a straight-set loss to Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor in the opening round in New York.
Nagal struggled with his first serve, winning only 61 per cent of those points to lose 1-6 3-6 6-7(8) to Griekspoor, who won 87 per cent of his first serve points, on Monday night.
Nagal broke his rival twice while the Dutchman converted six of his 11 break chances in the two-hour and 20-minute contest.
Tallon Griekspoor bringing the hustle against Sumit Nagal! pic.twitter.com/RxmIznqhJx
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2024
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The 27-year-old from Jhajjar found his rhythm quite late as he kept spraying unforced errors. Several times the Dutchman found easy winners by catching the Indian wrong-footed.
Light rain stopped play in the second set when Nagal was trailing 3-5. He competed well after the resumption. He still is alive in the US Open as he is competing in the men's doubles as well.
Nagal had begun the season with a bang, making it to the Australian Open main draw from the qualifiers and kept improving his ranking that secured his passage into all four Grand Slam main draws.
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While he won a main draw round in Melbourne, in the following Majors, he fell at the first hurdle.
Nevertheless, by playing all Grand Slams of the season 2024, he did his career a world of good.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the last Indian to play all Grand Slam singles main draw in 2019.
In the men's doubles, India will have Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji and Nagal playing with different partners.