India’s Sumit Nagal didn’t spoil birthday boy Dominic Thiem’s party on Thursday, but he still managed to turn heads with his tenacious performance in the US Open second-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Thiem, who turned 27, scored a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory to set up a third-round clash against 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic. While Sumit Nagal couldn’t really put the world number three to the test, who made a commanding display, the Indian showed moments of brilliance that even Thiem applauded.
One of those moments came in the third set with Nagal 1-3 down. Thiem started the game with a powerful serve on the ‘T’, leaving Nagal struggling to get his return. The young Indian’s twisted backhand gave the world number three a chance to hit hard on the forehand that Nagal easily returned.
However, after another back and forth, Thiem unleashed a precise cross-court backhand, Nagal stretched to its full length and once again managed to recover the ball but left the court wide open.
Thiem took the ball to its full extent and hit a cross forehand, but the persistent Nagal didn’t give up and ran to the other end of the court and came with an all-out forehand down the line.
Thiem, extremely impressed by the turn of events, applauded Nagal’s shot and was also heard to say “bravo”.
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Sumit Nagal always leaves everything on the court.@NagalSumit me #United States Open pic.twitter.com/uyk054v3zl
– US Tennis Open (@Usopen) September 3, 2020
Despite his brave performance, Nagal simply didn’t have the firepower to topple the second-seeded Austrian. Nagal broke Thiem’s serve twice and also hit 12 winners, but Thiem was too good.
The Austrian made 31 unforced errors, something that will need to be fixed when he faces Cilic, but he also hit 30 winners, backing him up with seven aces.
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