Reigning Champion Sumit Nagal awarded wild card for Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger

Bengaluru, November 6: Defending champion Sumit Nagal Sumit had scripted the biggest win of his career when he had won the Bengaluru Open last year. The win had helped him to record his career best ranking of 213 and an entry into the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.

However, with average success, he had dropped to a ranking of 310 on the ATP Tour and as such would have had to play the qualifiers of the upcoming US$ 150,000 ATP Challenger event to be held at the KSLTA Courts from November 12-17. However, the 21-year-old has been awarded a Wild Card by the Organising Committee of the Bengaluru Open for the main draw.

This is the second Wild Card with the first one being won by Suraj Prabodh who emerged as the champion in the Bengaluru Open Wild Card AITA ranking tennis event last month. Two more Wild Cards will be announced shortly.

“I am really happy to be back in Bengaluru and playing one of my favourite Challenger on the Tour. I am very thankful to the committee and the organisers for giving me a wild card to the Main Draw. I still remember playing my first ATP Challenger final at KSLTA. The atmosphere was amazing and the love I received from the crowd was phenomenal. It really pumped me up,” said the 21-year-old from Delhi who had gotten a Wild Card in the last edition but had moved into the Main Draw at the last minute owing to a withdrawal.

Sumit’s route to victory in the last edition included the felling of the top seed Blaz Kavcic, third seed and tournament favourite Yuki Bhambri before prevailing over Jay Clarke of Britain in the final.

“Bengaluru Open along with the All India Tennis Association is proud to have Sumit Nagal back in the 2018 edition. Being an underdog last year, he went on to win the Bengaluru Open as a 20-year-old and made India proud,” said Sunil Yajaman, Tournament Director of the prestigious event. “This year, being a bigger event, he needed a Wild Card to make it to the main draw. We think he deserved a Wild Card for that his performance in the Bengaluru Open. We also feel that he is a bright future for the Indian tennis. We wish him the very best in the event,” he added.

Sumit who suffered a loss in the first round of the previous three tournament including one at the hands of fellow Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan in the Shenzhen International Challenger last week, will be trying to improve his ranking and try and get into the qualifiers of the Australian Open. “The win really helped me in my ranking as I was at my career high after the finals and got into Qualification of my first slam at the Australian Open. I am really looking forward to be there next week as its one the best organised tournament on the Tour.”

Source: Press Release