Sumit Nagal exited the Australian Open in the second round after going down to China’s
Juncheng Shang
. Despite winning the first set, Nagal conceded the match 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 50 minutes.

With the win, 18-year-old Shang is into the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his young career.

While Nagal looked to run out of steam, and ideas, as the match progressed, the wildcard Shang began to serve bigger and got aggressive.

Despite the outcome, 26-year-old Nagal, who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana, will exit Melbourne Park with cherishable memories of coming through qualifiers and then beating a higher-ranked Alexander Bublik.

Nagal had made history in the first round win
when he beat Bublik in straight sets. The win made Nagal the first India singles player to beat a seeded opponent at a major since Ramesh Krishnan in 1989.

Nagal will take home AUD 180,000 (nearly 98 lakh) for his efforts. The money would help significantly in taking care of his annual budget on the tour.

At the start of the match, Nagal had the Chinese engaged in baseline fight and drew first blood in the very first game.

With a passing forehand winner, Nagal created a break point and then luck of the net allowed him to create another chance. He converted it by forcing the Chinese player, nicknamed ‘Jerry’, into making a backhand error.

Shang tried desperately to get the break back by raising the intensity but Nagal fought defiantly and succeeded in opening up a 3-1 lead with consecutive holds.

The former junior No. 1 found himself in a spot of bother again when he was down 0-30 in the fifth game but pulled himself out of the hole by serving well.

In the seventh game, a slugfest ensued which saw six deuce points and culminated in a double fault that gave Nagal his fourth breakpoint.

Shang’s 17th unforced error of the match — a backhand going wide — resulted in another break and it allowed the Indian to serve out the opening set.

The Chinese played better and aggressively in the second set and had a chance to put Nagal under pressure but could not convert the two break points in the second game.

Shang cut down on his unforced errors, served well and the court coverage also improved and in no time, he was leading 5-2 with two breaks.

Coming out to serve to stay in the set, Nagal began with an unforced error but managed to hold. Shang was still troubled by the high backhand balls, but closed the second set in his favour with a powerful forehand, which Nagal could not return.

The third set was a tighter affair with no break of serve until Shang cashed in on a flurry of backhand errors by Nagal at 5-5. At 15-all, Nagal buried backhand on net and then netted one more to be down by two break points.

Nagal saved both but handed another chance to the Chinese, who converted with a screaming down-the-line forehand winner.

Shang served out the set with an excellent serve.

As the match wore on, Shang’s serve became better and better. He hardly conceded points on his serve. It put pressure on the Indian. A visibly tiring Nagal had his back on the wall after he lost serve at 3-3.

It was a backhand winner from Shang that earned him two break chances. At the net, Shang received a feeble return which he smashed for a winner to take a 4-3 lead and made it 5-3 with an easy hold.

The Chinese served out the set and match without fuss.

Bopanna-Ebden win close encounter

In the doubles draw, Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden came from a 0-5 deficit in the opening set to beat the Australian pairing of James Duckworth and Marc Polmans. Bopanna and Ebden won 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

Meanwhile, the Indian pairing of Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Anirudh Chandrasekar lost 3-6, 4-6 to Hungarian team of Marton Fucsovics and Fabian Marozsan.

N Sriram Balaji, who has teamed up with Romania’s Victor Vlad Cornea, will open his campaign on Friday as their match against Italian pair of Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellegrino has been rescheduled due to rain.

(with inputs from PTI)