Australian Open 2024: Sumit Nagal through to Grand Slam main draw after 3 years after win over Alex Molcan
India’s Sumit Nagal defeated Alex Molcan and advanced to the main draw of the Australian Open 2024 after beating Alex Molcan in straight sets.
In Short
- Sumit Nagal beat Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-4 in the last round of the Australian Open qualifiers
- Nagal returned to playing in the Australian Open main draw after 3 years
- Nagal took an hour and 47 minutes to come up trumps
Sumit Nagal, on Friday, December 12, made his way through to the main draw of the Australian Open 2024 men’s singles. The 26-year-old defeated Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-4 on Court 3 in the last round of the qualifiers. It took Nagal two hours and three minutes to get the better of his opponent.
It also meant that Nagal returned to playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam after a gap of three years. The last time the youngster played in the main draw was in the Australian Open 2021 where he lost 2-6, 5-7, 3-6 to Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
Nagal started the match with a break of serve, but conceded one soon after. At 5-5, it was pretty much even stevens before Nagal earned his second break and closed out the set.
At 4-3 in the second set, Nagal earned a crucial break to go 5-3 up. Serving for the match at 5-3, Nagal got himself two match points, but he ended up losing both.
At 5-4, Nagal earned three points, out of which he lost two. Just when it seemed that Molcan would save yet another match point, he ended up making a double fault. Nagal took a medical timeout as he seemed to have some issue with his fitness, but he did not let it ruin his day on the court.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to say. Saving maybe 6 match points, not being able to convert them and getting away with the double fault, I wouldn’t complain about today. I am super happy to get through and thanks to everyone who showed up and supported me,” Nagal said in the on-court interview.
“I played 3 matches in a row. It’s been a while since I played 3 matches in a Grand Slam. Last time I did it was in 2019, so you are talking about 4 to 5 years.
“Have 3 days off, and I will try to recover and do my best from there.”
Earlier, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) didn’t give Nagal a wildcard for the Australian Open after he pulled out of the Davis Cup. Therefore, Nagal had to take part in the qualifiers to make his way into the main draw.