US Open: Sumit Nagal Defeats Klahn In Round 1 To Become First Indian To Reach Second Round Of Grand Slam In 7 Years

Nagal's win the opening round at Flushing Meadows also meant the he became the first Indian singles player since Somdev Devvarman (2013 US Open) to win a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.

India's leading singles player Sumit Nagal advanced to the second round of the 2020 US Open at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday after he defeated America's Bradley Klahn in four sets with the scoreline reading 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Nagal's win the opening round at Flushing Meadows also meant the he became the first Indian singles player since Somdev Devvarman (2013 US Open) to win a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam. Somdev Devvarman had reached the second round of the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open in 2013.

Sumit Nagal is the first Indian man to win a match at the #USOpen in 7 years.

He's onto the second round after defeating Klahn 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.@nagalsumit I #USOpen pic.twitter.com/h30hVPeaWu — US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2020

Nagal has a herculean task up his sleeves next as he takes on second seed Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round of the men's singles at Flushing Meadows. Thiem advanced to the second round after his Spanish opponent J Munar retired when the Austrian was up two sets in the game. Theim looked on course of a straight set win before Munar had to pulls out of the encounter citing injury concerns. World No. 3 Thiem, runner-up at three grand slams (2018-19 Roland Garros and 2020 Australian Open), is now 10-5 on the season. Nagal was in control of the proceedings for most part of the match against Klahn on Tuesday, as he served with a great deal of consistency and committed fewer errors than his opponent. There was a bit of blip in his game in the third set for a brief period which helped the American pull one set off him. However, Nagal came back to his own and won the next to sets to wrap up the match and move to the second round in the men's singles section. Klahn, currently ranked 129, also needed a medical timeout for a back issue after the second set. That arguably gave him some time to recover – both physically and mentally – as he started to keep more balls in play and move his opponent around. It is notable that World No. 124 Nagal, also made his Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the last edition of the US Open in 2019. His maiden appearance at the grand slam ended in a loss to the Swiss maestro and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer but Nagal did enough to hog attention by taking a set off the tennis great