Indian men’s singles tennis star Sumit Nagal won the Chennai Open title on Sunday, beating Italy’s Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4 in straight games.

The title win is Nagal’s fifth Challenger level series win and is expected to take him to the 98th position in the ATP rankings, when the list is officially updated on Monday.

The 26-year-old Nagal will become only the tenth Indian to break into the top-100 ATP rankings and the first to achieve the feat since Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019.

Nagal’s run at Chennai comes on the back of an impressive start to the 2024 season as he reached the second round of the Australian Open after starting the Grand Slam in the qualifiers.

Nagal carried his rich run of form forward to Chennai as he coasted to the title without dropping a set in the competition.

He had earlier defeated Dalibor Svrcina 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-final after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Dominik Palan.