Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal faced a tough challenge in his opening match at the Paris 2024 Olympics. He went up against the mercurial Frenchman Corentin Moutet in a three-set battle that lasted two hours and 28 minutes.
Sumit Nagal’s valiant effort
Nagal stuck to his strong baseline game, but Moutet had a few tricks up his sleeve. The French player used drop shots, forehand slices, and backhand slices effectively to unsettle Nagal. With a 2-0 lead, it seemed that the Indian star was set to progress to the second round
But then Moutet earned the break back to make it 2-2. From there on, both players fought hard to make it 5-5 before the Frenchman earned the deciding break of the match. Nagal saved one match point, but could not save two more as he lost the match with a backhand error.
Moutet attacked throughout as he pulled off 34 winners, compared to Nagal’s 20. He made 49 unforced errors and five double faults, but the four break points that he got turned out to be the deciding factor in the context of the match.
Sumit Nagal 1️⃣ – 2️⃣ Corentin 🇫🇷
Sumit Nagal lost to World No. 54 and home favourites Coretin 2-6,6-2,5-7
He was leading 3rd Game 2-0, But lost 5-7
Great efforts, Well Played 🙌🇮🇳#PARIS2024 #Tennis https://t.co/huJbZqCY19 pic.twitter.com/Pde7vCcFRG
— The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) July 28, 2024
Nagal’s Olympic campaign ended prematurely, leaving him disappointed after a hard-fought match. Back in 2021, Nagal qualified for the second round where he lost to Daniil Medvedev. But this time around, he could not make any impact in the quadrennial event. Nagal fought hard for two hours and 28 minutes before losing to the Frenchman on Court 7.
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