Chennai Open: Nagal reaches semifinals, Mukund goes down fighting

Sumit Nagal moved closer to breaking into the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings after he reached the semifinals of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Czechia’s Dominik Palan on Friday.

Nagal, who is at 110 in the live rankings, needs to win the tournament to become the first Indian man since Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019 to make his top 100 debut.

The 26-year-old Indian, seeded second, displayed a mature performance against Palan to record his third straight-sets win on the Center Court at the SDAT Stadium here.

The Czech player, three years younger to Nagal, tried to put the Indian under pressure by taking the ball early and got his first break point opportunity in the third game of the opener. However, he failed to convert it, hitting a crosscourt forehand return wide.

Nagal stood a considerable distance behind the baseline and neutralised the big serve of the 6’3” Czech. The Indian got two break points at 40-15 in the sixth game. While Palan saved first with an ace up the T, he followed it up by hitting a backhand down the line wide in the next exchange.

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Nagal faced his second break point while serving for the set but managed to save it with a forehand winner down the line. A few moments later, the same shot helped him seal the opener. He broke Palan in the first and ninth game of the second set to complete the win in an hour and 31 minutes.

Nagal will take on Dalibor Svrcina, another Czech player, on Saturday for a place in the final after the third seed outlasted local wildcard S. Mukund 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 in a quarterfinal fixture that finished just six minutes short of the three-hour mark.

In doubles, Saketh Myneni-Ramkumar Ramanathan pair will take on Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli-Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha duo in an all-Indian final.