Australian Open 2024: Sumit Nagal Upsets Alexander Bublik To Enter Men's Singles Second Round

India's Sumit Nagal on Tuesday (January 16) stunned 31st seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan to enter the men's singles second round in Australian Open 2024 at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne.

The world number 139 Indian, who had to go through qualifiers to reach the main draw, defeated the Kazakh by straight sets 6-4,6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the men's singles opening round match that lasted 2 hours and 37 minutes on court 6.

Nagal will next face China's wild card entrant Juncheng Shang in the second round laster this week. The Chinese player defeated USA's Mackenzie McDonald in a five-set first round match on Tuesday (January 16).

Nagal was off to an impressive start as he broke Bublik in the first game of the match but he also failed to hold on to his own serve next as the scoreline read 1-1.

The Indian then broke his opponent's serve twice to take the opening set 6-4 in 42 minutes. Nagal played even better in the second set as he broke serve of his opponent twice while holding his own all through to win 6-2 in 43 minutes.

In the third set, both the players held their serve till the seventh game when Nagal broke his opponent to take a 4-3 lead. He then cruised ahead at 5-3. The Indian then served for the match at 5-4 but failed to hold.

The third set went into the tie-breaker with Nagal eventually winning 7-5. Nagal had made it to the main draw with a 6-4 6-4 win over Slovakia's Alex Molcan in the tournament's qualifying final on Friday (January 12).

With his first round victory, Nagal went on to end India's 11-year wait to reach the second round in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Somdev Devvarman was the last Indian to reach the second round of the Australian Open. Somdev achieved the feat in 2013 Australian Open.

The victory also places Nagal in the history books for Indians beating seeded players. The 26-year-old becomes the first from the country to beat a seeded player at any Grand Slam since 1989.

The last Indian to beat a seeded player at a grand slam event was Ramesh Krishnan, who stunningly defeated the then World No.1 Mats Wilander in the second round of the 1989 Australian Open.

Currently ranked World No. 139 in singles, this is Nagal's second main draw appearance in the season's first Grand Slam after his entry in 2021. Nagal had also made it to the US Open main draw in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019, Nagal had stretched legendary Roger Federer to four sets at the Flushing Meadows before losing 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 4-6. However, a year later, the Indian managed to enter the second round of the season's final Grand Slam beating host nation's Bradley Klahn in the first round 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.