Sumit Nagal has continued to build on his great form at the ATP Challenger Chennai. After dispatching compatriot S D Prajwal Dev in the last round, the 26-year-old has gained another comfortable victory and moved into the quarterfinals.
Coming from a second-round run at the Australian Open, where he won four matches in straight sets and beat the current world number 23, Alexander Bublik, the Indian tennis ace has his eye set on breaching the ATP top 100 for the first time.
Sumit Nagal beat his Italian opponent, Giovanni Fonio, in straight sets (7-5, 6-2) to move to the quarterfinal. Similar to his last match, Nagal dominated on his serve. The 26-year-old won 31/38 points on the first serve and 10/12 on the second.
The second seed broke Fonio three times in the two sets, once in the first and twice in the second.
Up next for second seed Sumit Nagal will be Italian Samuel Vincent Ruggeri or Dominik Palan of the Czech Republic. If Ruggeri wins, it will be the first meeting between the two on the challenger circuit. Whereas Palan has a 1-0 record against the Indian, having beaten him last year in the round of 16 at the Pune Challenger.