Straight-set loss for Nagal in Australian Open tune-up

Melbourne, February 1

India’s Sumit Nagal began his 2021 season with an opening-round defeat at the Murray River Open, losing in straight sets to Ricardas Berankis here today in the run-up to the Australian Open. Nagal suffered a rather tame 2-6 2-6 defeat in the $320775 ATP 250 event.

The Indian, ranked 139 in the ATP singles chart, could convert none of the two break chances he earned while dropping his serve four times in the match against the world No. 72 from Lithuania.

Rohan Bopanna, who served a hard quarantine, has been paired with Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and they will open their campaign against Australian wild card pair of James Duckworth and Marc Pullmans. Bopanna is going into the event without much practice as Covid protocol required him to stay inside his room for 14 consecutive days. He stepped out only on January 30. — PTI