Sumit Nagal reaches Perugia Challenger final, in contention for successive title

Sumit Nagal kept himself in contention for his third title of the year as he advanced to the final of the Perugia Challenger in Perugia, Italy, with a fighting 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 6-2 win over former World No. 37 Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain on Saturday.

Nagal will face off against Luciano Darderi of Italy in the final on Sunday. Darderi defeated Germany's Daniel Altmaier 7-6, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Ranked 77th in the world, Nagal faced a stiff challenge in the opening set, but he stood firm on his belief and got better of the Spaniard in the tie-breaker.

In the second set, Miralless cruised to a 6-1 win, landing 77 per cent of his first serves to points.

But the India No. 1 Nagal, 26, bounced back strongly in the decider with his brilliant retrieving and sealed his maiden win over the Spaniard in three meetings.

This was Nagal's ninth win on the trot since the start of the Heilbronn Challenger in Germany, which he had won earlier this month.

Nagal is now in contention for a second consecutive Challenger title, giving a push to get into the top 50.

Nagal won the Chennai Challenger earlier this year and became the first Indian man to win a match at the Australian Open in 11 years and reached the second round of the Grand Slam event.

However, in the men's doubles final, India's Paris Olympic-bound player N Sriram Balaji and his German partner Andre Begemann lost to top-seeded Argentina’s Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 4-6, 5-7.