Tata Open Maharashtra: Nagal goes down fighting; Ramnathan loses to Salvatore Caruso

Indian star Sumit Nagal put up a strong fight against Serbian ace Viktor Troicki before going down in the singles opening round match at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra at Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium here today.

Another Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan also lost his opening

round match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 against his Italian opponent Salvatore Caruso.

India No. 2 Nagal, who took a set away against legendary

Roger Federer during his debut Grand Slam match at 2019 US Open, showed immense

resistance before going down 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 against the former World No.

12.

The comeback man Germany's Cedrik-Marcel Stebe begun his campaign at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win as the finallist of last edition Ivo Karlovic knockout in the first round on the opening day of South Asia's only Atp Tour tournament at Mhalunge Balewadi Staidum here today.

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Fifth-seed Yuichi Sugita also made his way into the second

round with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian ace Thomas Fabbiano.

The 28-year-old Stebe, who has been plagued with numerous

injuries that forced him to skip almost all the action between September 2013

and March 2016, dominated the former World No. 14 in the first set.

Karlovic, however, tried to gain some momentum with two

points before the German wrapped up the set as well as the match. "My

number one priority would be to stay healthy and keep myself away from any

major injury. I started off bit slow. I knew I want to focus on my game. That

kept me going," Stebe, who is making his first appearance, said after the

match.

Meanwhile in the doubles opening round match, Italian pair

of Paolo Lorenzi and StefanoTravaglia made winning start as they thrashed

Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis and Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-4 in straight

sets.

The second day of the India's premier ATP 250 event, which

is organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in

association with Government of Maharashtra, will see legendary Leander Paes in

action during his doubles opening round match.

Eight-time Grand Slam doubles champion, who has partnered

alongside Australian Mathew Ebden, will face challenge from Divij Sharan and

New Zealand's Artem Sitak. The singles opening round will see two Indians,

Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Arjun Kadhe, in action. While, the India No. 1

Prajnesh will take on Germany's Yannick Maden, local boy Kadhe will face Czech

player Jiri Vesely.

Results:

(Singles) Viktor Troicki bt Sumit Nagal 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Cedrik-Marcel Stebe bt Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4;

Yuichi Sugita bt Thomas Fabbiano 6-3, 6-0; Salvatore Caruso

bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 3-6, 6-4, 7-5;

(Doubles) Paolo Lorenzi-Stefano Travaglia bt Ricardas Berankis-Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-4.