Nagal, Nardi storm into Bengaluru Open second round

The 26-year-old, leading 4-2, notched up another break in the seventh game through Blancaneaux's unforced error on his backhand. Leading 5-2, Nagal closed out the set without much fuss 6-2

Sumit Nagal's power and precision was too hot to handle for Geoff Blancaneaux as the second seeded Indian entered the second round of the Bengaluru Open 2024 with a smooth win here on Tuesday. Nagal, who won the Chennai Open on Sunday, waltzed past his French opponent 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 28 minutes. He will face Coleman Wong of Hong Kong in the next round of Bengaluru Open 2024 on Wednesday. Nagal, who recently broke into ATP top 100, was more than a match for Blancaneaux as the latter struggled to keep pace with the Indian. Nagal opened the first set with a break in the opening game to go 1-0 up as Blancaneaux found it tough to tackle his returns. In fact, it was a trend continued throughout the first set as Nagal won a whopping 17 points on the return, forcing his opponent to make an unforced error or serve him up a dolly.

The 26-year-old, leading 4-2, notched up another break in the seventh game through Blancaneaux's unforced error on his backhand. Leading 5-2, Nagal closed out the set without much fuss 6-2. There was no let up of intensity in the second set as well, Nagal broke Blancaneaux in the first game itself to pin his opponent on the backfoot. Nagal's pin point forehand volley gave him a 30-40 lead and in the next point Blancaneaux slammed a forehand wide of the sidelines to hand his rival the break. Nagal easily held his serve in the second game to go 2-0 up and Blancaneaux won the next game to stay in the contest at 2-1. The next couple of games went by serve as the Frenchman tried to make a match out of it with a couple of big serves and ground shots. But in the seventh game, Nagal fetched the decisive break to go 5-2 up as Blancaneaux drove his backhand long outside the baseline.

Also Read: Sumit Nagal jumps 23 places to break into top-100 of ATP singles rankings

With the crowd pepping him on, Nagal took a 40-30 lead in the eighth game. He sealed the game, set and match with a thunderous serve on the backhand of Blancaneaux that he failed to retrieve. Earlier, top seeded Italian Lucas Nardi defeated a fighting qualifier Dan Added of France 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0). Results (Singles, 1st round) 2- Sumit Nagal beat Geoff Blancaneaux 6-2, 6-2, 1-Lucas Nardi beat Dan Added 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0), Vasek Pospisil beat Eric Vanshelboim 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, Hong Seong-Chen beat Tristan Schookate 6-4, 6-3, Alexey Zakharov beat Vincent Ruggeri 6-2, 7-5, 8-Roca Batalla beat Jason Tseng 7-5, 6-3, Enrico Dalla Vale beat Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 7-5, 4-Benjamin Bonzi beat Philip Sekulic 6-3, 6-2; Tristan Boyer beat Bernard Tomic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Doubles: Constantin Kouzmine/Maxime Janvier beat Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta/Manish Sureshkumar 2-6, 6-7 (8).

(With agency inputs)

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