Chennai Open | Nagal eases past Fioni and into the quarterfinals

Luca Nardi in motion towards Bernard Tomic at the ATP Challenger Chennai Open tennis Tournament on Wednesday, February 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran.

Playing on Centre Court at 2 in the afternoon, second seed Sumit Nagal made gentle of the scorching and humid circumstances, attacked properly from the baseline and volleyed when it mattered to script a facile 7-5, 6-2 win over Giovanni Fonio of Italy in the second spherical of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tennis right here on Wednesday.

Luca Nardi of Italy, the prime seed, huffed and puffed earlier than overcoming Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-5, 6-3. Nardi will subsequent tackle Stefano Napolitano of Italy, the fifth seed, who put it throughout Dan Added of France 6-2, 6-1.

Fonio is an attacking participant very like Nagal besides that he has a one-handed backhand not like his Indian opponent. There was little to separate the two in the first set, as each confidently held their serves. Fioni held his serve at love in the tenth sport as the rating was tied at 5-5. So did Nagal in the subsequent sport.

In the twelfth sport, the Italian, ranked 270 in the world, was damaged at 15 when he put a routine backhand shot from the baseline straight into the web.

Sumit Nagal in motion towards Giovanni Fonio at the ATP Challenger Chennai Open tennis on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit:
R. Ravindran

Nagal, the highest ranked Indian in the world at 121, raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set with some enticing forehand crosscourt winners and sturdy first serves. Fioni’s sport began to collapse as he continued to commit far too many unforced errors from the baseline.

In the final singles match of the day, Dominik Palan of the Czech Republic beat again a tricky problem from Samuel Vincent Ruggeri of Italy earlier than profitable 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Palan will problem Nagal in the quarterfinals.  

Nardi struggled in the first set, however was capable of break Tomic in the twelfth sport with a superb end at the web to pocket the set. Tomic appeared bored with the second as the Italian raced to a 3-0 and 4-1 lead. From thereon, there wasn’t a lot of a struggle from the Australian.

The outcomes (second spherical): Lucas Nardi (Ita) bt Bernard Tomic (Aus) 7-5, 6-3; Sumit Nagal bt Giovanni Fonio (Ita) 7-5, 6-2; Stefano Napolitano (Ita) bt Dan Added (Fra) 6-2, 6-1; Dominik Palan (Cze) bt Samuel Vincent Ruggeri (Ita) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.