ATP Rankings: Sumit Nagal made his return to the Top 200 in the ATP Rankings on Monday. The 25-year old clinched his career’s fourth ATP Challenger title by winning the Tampere Open on Sunday. The victory has now propelled him to the 178th spot in the latest rankings. This has also assured him of a berth at the US Open qualifiers next month.
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By winning the Tampere Open, Nagal has now won four ATP Challenger titles in his career. He was seeded seventh in the tournament went on to defeat fifth seeded Dalibor Svrcina 6-4, 7-5 in the final.
This is his second crown this year as he had earlier won the Garden Open in Rome in April. His performance in the Tampere Open has now helped him jump up 53 places in the ATP Rankings.
Sumit Nagal’s rise in rankings in 2023
Nagal has made a rapid rise in the rankings in 2023. After struggling with injuries over the last few years, he began 2023 with a ranking of 503. He gradually began to find his groove and made it until the semifinal at the Chennai Open Challenger in February after entering the tournament as a qualifier.
This performance was a big confidence-booster and his performance continued to improve. Within two months, he clinched the title at Rome. He was a qualifier in the clay court tournament and went on to become the first-ever Indian to win a clay court ATP Challenger event. The victory made him jump up almost 100 places to 254th in the rankings.
He then reached the semifinal at the Troisdorf Challenger which further improved his rankings. Nagal entered Tampere Open with a ranking of 231. Now by reaching within the Top 200, he will be in action in the qualifying rounds of the US Open 2023 next month.
Indians in Grand Slam events in 2023
- No Indian men’s singles player featured in the qualifying rounds of this season’s Grand Slams.
- The last time Indians were seen in action in a Grand Slam qualifying event was at the US Open 2022.
- Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri were in action in the singles qualifiers back then. Nagal and Bhambri used their protected ranking to make it to the qualifiers back then.
- Nagal and Ramanathan bowed out from the first round, while Bhambri suffered second round exit in the qualifiers.
Nagal will now look to play few more tournament before heading to the US. He has made it to the main draw in the US Open twice in his career. In 2019, he faced the legendary Roger Federer in the first round. In the next year, he defeated Jaume Munar in the first round. He bowed out from the second round after losing to eventual champion Dominic Thiem.
The qualifying rounds for the 2023 US Open will get underway from 22nd August 2023. The main draw will begin on 28th August. Carlos Alcaraz is the defending champion in Men’s Singles.
