In a major achievement on Sunday, India’s star player Sumit Nagal defeated Czech Republic’s Dalibor Svrcina in straight sets to win the Tampere Open title in Finland. He won 6-4 7-5 to grab his fourth ATP challenger title in five outings. It may be noted that the Tampere Open is his second title this year, having won Garden Open in Rome in the month of April.
Nagal was in no mood to relent
Nagal was initially trailing 4-1 in the first game. However, he soon came back strongly to take a 5-3 lead, eventually winning the first set by 6-4, thanks to some superb shots from the baseline.
After the break, Svrcine, on the other hand, was also in no mood to let it go either. The Czech Republic player soon started hitting an array of shots, trying to come back in the final and get the better of Nagpal . However, the alert Nagal was not in the mood to let go of the momentum and was involved in a number of long rallies with his rival before clinching the second set 7-5 and eventually the title.
Second Set
With both players tied at 5-5, Nagal soon took an earlier lead to 6-5, serving it out to win the title, before the Czech player once again showed his power hitting skills, to save three match points. However, Nagal was eventually successful in breaking his momentum to win the title.
Semi-final
The 25-year-old had earlier beaten unseeded Spaniard Daniel Rincon 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final. Earlier, he defeated Jiří Veselý of the Czech Republic in the first round, followed by victories against JL Reis da Silva of Brazil in the pre-quarters and Tunisia’s Mohamed Aziz Dougaz in the quarterfinals.
Journey so far
Earlier in 2017, he defeated Jay Clarke of Great Britain to win in the first Challenger final in 2017. Since then he played two more finals, losing to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands two years later in the Banja Luka Open, before defeating Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis in Buenos Aires.