Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal’s run at the 2024 US Open ended in the first round on Tuesday after a straight-sets loss to Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor.
Nagal, the world No 73 lost to the player ranked 40 1-6, 3-6, 6-7(6) in a match that lasted two hours and 20 minutes.
The 27-year-old from Jhajjar, Haryana, who played in the singles main draw of all four Grand Slams in the same year for the first time, dropped serve six times in the duration of the match and managed to break his opponent’s serve twice.
Three of those breaks on Nagal’s serve came in the first set, with the Indian not holding on to any of his service games as Griekspoor took the opener 6-1.
There was some fightback in the second set, with Nagal keeping pace initially. But the Dutch player managed to find a break in the fifth game to go up 3-2. Griekspoor held on to the advantage to close out the opening with another break right at the end.
The first break in the third set came in favour of the Indian in the 11th game. Nagal, up 6-5 had a chance to serve for the set but the Dutchman came back strongly. Aided by a Nagal double fault, Griekspoor forced the tiebreak with a break to 15.
In the tiebreak, Nagal put himself in a good position by going up 6-4 and holding two set points, one on his own serve. But Griekspoor managed to win the next four points on the trot to secure a spot in the second round.
This was the third consecutive first round exit from a Grand Slam for Nagal, after losing in the opener at the French Open and Wimbledon.
He did however, reach the second round of the Australian Open, that too after starting the tournament as a qualifier.
