Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal was handed a defeat in the final of the ATP Challenger in Perugia on Sunday. Nagal lost to the top seed from Italy Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-2.
Despite the win, Nagal moves up to a career high world No 71 rank.
This was the second consecutive appearance in a Challenger final for Nagal, after he won the title at the event in Heilbronn, Germany last week – his second title of the season.
In Italy, the 26-year-old from Jhajjar, Haryana, started his campaign with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over Bosnian player Nerman Fatic.
The sixth seed from India then came from behind to beat Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi 0-6, 7-5, 7-6(5), before beating Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-final.
To get to the final, he beat former world No 37 (currently 193) Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-2.
Despite the tennis tour moving onto the grass season, Nagal has opted to play on the clay surface he is more comfortable with. He will be making his Wimbledon main draw debut when the Grand Slam starts on July 1.
