India's top player, Sumit Nagal, exits on the opening day of the US Open, as he suffered a straight-set defeat against Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor in the opening round in New York, USA.
Nagal struggled with his first serve, winning only 61 per cent of those points and lost 1-6 3-6 6-7(8) to Griekspoor, who effortlessly won 87 per cent of his first serve points, on Monday night.
Nagal fought his rival twice. However, Griekspoor converted six of his 11 break chances in the two-hour and 20-minute contest.
The 27-year-old from Jhajjar found his rhythm quite late as he kept committing unforced errors.
Several times, the Dutchman found easy winners by catching the Indian on the wrong foot.
The second set was stopped by light rain when Nagal was trailing 3-5. He competed well after the resumption. He still is alive in the US Open as he is competing in the men's doubles as well.
Nagal had begun the season with a bang, making it to the Australian Open main draw from the qualifiers and kept improving his ranking securing his passage into all four Grand Slam main draws.
While he won a main draw round in Melbourne, in the following Majors, he fell at the first hurdle.
Nevertheless, by playing all Grand Slams of the season 2024, he did his career a world of good.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the last Indian to play all Grand Slam singles main draw in 2019.
In the men's doubles, India will have Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji, and Nagal playing with different partners.
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