Sumit Nagal And Ramkumar Ramanathan Draw French Rivals In Opening Round Of Bengaluru Open

11.02.2024 - 10:29 sports.ndtv.com

Indian ace Sumit Nagal is pitted against Geoffrey Blancaneaux, while wild card entrant Ramkumar Ramanathan will face Maxime Janvier in the men's singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open beginning in Bengaluru on Monday.

World ranked 121 Nagal will aim to extend his dominance over Blancaneaux, whom he has beaten three times, including in the Australian Open Qualifiers.

India No 2 Ramkumar has a 1-1 head-to-head record against Janiver and if he clears the first round hurdle, he is likely to run into top-seed Italian Luca Nardi, who has been drawn to meet a qualifier in his opening round.

Australian Adam Walton has been seeded third and will open his campaign against Indian wild card entrant Prajwal Dev. In the doubles main draw, Frenchman Dan Added and Korea's Yun Seong Chung have been given the top billing and will clash with the Australian pair Tristan Schoolkate and Adam Walton.

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India's top singles player Sumit Nagal dropped out of top-100 after losing 16 points from his kitty, resulting in him sliding three spots to 101 in the latest ATP rankings. Last year in the same week, Nagal had earned 41 ranking points by reaching the semifinals of the Chennai Challenger as a qualifier. He was defending those points and could earn only 25 in Bengaluru last week. Nagal had become one of the few Indian tennis players to crack the top-100 following his tremendous show in Chennai where he won his sixth Challenger level title.

What Forced Ravichandran Ashwin To Withdraw From India Squad? BCCI Vice President Reveals Reason

Indian cricket team spinner Ravichandran Ashwin withdrew from the ongoing third Test match against England in Rajkot on Friday due to a family medical emergency. The withdrawal came just hours after he became the second Indian bowler ever after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets. BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla took to social media to provide another update about the incident and wrote that Ashwin's mother was facing the medical emergency. "Wishing speedy recovery of mother of @ashwinravi99 . He has to rush and leave Rajkot test to Chennai to be with his mother," he posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Sumit Nagal Battles Past Coleman Wong, Moves Into Quarterfinals

Sumit Nagal was put through his sternest test yet by Coleman Wong but the second seeded Indian had enough grunt in him to fight past the Hong Kong man to enter the quarterfinals of the Bengaluru Open on Thursday. Nagal won 6-2, 7-5 after an hour and 46 minutes of intense battle. But the beginning belied the struggles awaited Nagal in the later stages of the match. Nagal continued the pattern of earning an early break when he went up 2-0 in the opening set. But it was not all smooth sailing as the 26-year-old had to battle past from 0-30 down in the very next game to hold his serve.

India Can Tame Sweden On Clay In Davis Cup: Ramkumar Ramanathan

Ramkumar Ramanathan says Indian Davis Cup team is well-equipped to tackle the challenge of Sweden even if the hosts choose to play on clay courts in the September tie. Indian team will travel to Sweden, hoping to get its first win over the European nation in the sixth clash between the two sides. Ramkumar said their familiarity with the game style of Sweden players will also stand them in good stead. India qualified for the World Group after beating Pakistan 4-0 recently in the playoffs held in Islamabad.