Australian Open
India's Sumit Nagal exited the Australian Open with a first-round defeat, struggling to cope with the power-packed game of Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, here on Tuesday. Nagal's challenge deflated in a matter of minutes as Berankis' powerful ground strokes proved to be too good for the Indian, who lost 2-6 5-7 3-6 in two hours and 10 minutes. Nagal had lost to the world number 72 in the last week's tune-up event too.
Ace India tennis player Sumit Nagal will face Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in the men's singles first round of the 2021 Australian Open which begins on February 8. The draw for the first Grand Slam of the season was held on Friday.
Nagal, ranked 139 in the world, faced 72nd ranked Berankis in his last match as well at the Murray River Open. Berankis had won the match 6-2, 6-2. He will face either Russia's Karen Khachanov or Australia's Aleksandar Vukic in the second round.
Women will play shorter matches at the Australian Open tuneups from Friday due to a logjam in fixtures after Thursday's play was cancelled on news a quarantine hotel worker was infected with the coronavirus.
Thursday's matches at the six events ahead of the Feb. 8-21 Grand Slam were cancelled after a worker at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which was used to quarantine players and their entourages, tested positive for the virus.
Ramkumar, who is yet to make a Grand Slam main draw appearance, ousted 10th seed Argentine Facundo Bagnis with a hard-fought 7-6(6) 7-5 victory in one hour and 53 minutes in men's singles first round.
Indian tennis players Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Qualifiers after recording wins in their respective singles draws.
Ramkumar, who is yet to make a Grand Slam main draw appearance, ousted 10th seed Argentine Facundo Bagnis with a hard-fought 7-6(6) 7-5 victory in one hour and 53 minutes in men's singles first round.
India’s Sumit Nagal has been given a singles wildcard entry for the Australian Open 2021.
Sumit and Wang Xiyu of China will compete in the main draw after being named recipients of the tournament's Asia-Pacific wildcards.
Sumit and Wang have joined Daria Gavrilova, Astra Sharma, Christopher O'Connell, Maddison Inglis, Lizette Cabrera, and Marc Polmans, who was announced as Australian Open 2021 main-draw wildcards prior to Christmas.
