Sumit Nagal created history, becoming the first Indian to record a main-draw win at Monte Carlo Masters, beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the first round on Monday. The unseeded 93rd-ranked Nagal, who is only the third Indian to feature in the main draw in Monte Carlo after Vijay Amritraj (1977) and Ramesh Krishnan (1982), came from a set down to beat World No. 38 Arnaldi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
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Nagal is also the first Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay since the series began in 1990. The Indian will next face seventh-seeded Dane and last year’s runner-up Holger Rune.
Arnaldi broke Nagal to go 4-2 up in the opening set but the Indian broke back immediately. However, serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Nagal went down 15-40. He saved one break point the 23-year-old Italian converted the second one with a crosscourt winner to bag the first set.
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In the second essay, Nagal dominated Arnaldi and broke him twice to race to a 4-1 lead. While the Italian got one break of serve back, the Indian restored the advantage immediately before serving out the set.
In the decider, Nagal broke Arnaldi in the third game but the Italian restored parity at 3-3. Nagal broke him again in the seventh game and this time, managed to keep his lead intact to close the set.
Nagal defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli (No. 63) 6-2, 6-3 and Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta (World No. 55) 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to qualify for the main draw.
This is Nagal’s second appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 main draw this season.