Indian participation halts at quarter-finals stage of Prague Open 2020

By Saurabh Singh

India’s Sumit Nagal, world rank 127 (Singles), Divij Sharan, second highest ranked Indian in the world (56^th in Doubles), and N Sriram Balaji (143^rd in Doubles) have bowed out at the quarter-finals stage of Prague Open 2020.

23-year-old Nagal, who participated in both Singles and Doubles category, could not manage to reach the last four in either.

Playing three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in his singles quarter-finals, Nagal gave an early scare to the world rank 17 by breaking him twice in the opening set to seal it 6-2. However, the 35-year-old Swiss battled hard in the final two sets and booked a place in the semis with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Jhajjar-born Indian.

In his doubles quarter-finals tie later in the day, Nagal and his Belarusian partner Ilya Ivashka were defeated in straight sets 2-6, 4-6 by French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Arthur Rinderknech.

The 3-6, 6-7(8).

Meanwhile, Canadian-Slovenian pairing of Steven Diez and Blaz Rola proved too strong for Indo-Belgian duo of Balaji and Kimmer Coppejans as they suffered 4-6, 3-6 straight sets loss.

India’s top ranked player Sumit Nagal is now scheduled to fly to the US Open, where he received a direct Men’s Singles Main Draw entry.

This year, at the US Open Men’s Doubles competition, the Indian tri-colour will be represented by Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan.

Ranked 37^th in the world, Bopanna has entered with Canada’s Denis Shapovalov (Rank 44) while Sharan will take the court alongside Serbia’s Nikola Cacic (Rank 59).