Pune Metropolitan Region: India's lone representative in the second round of the main draw, Sumit Nagal provided hope briefly in the third set but was outlasted by the qualifier Domnik Palan, from the Czech Republic, to end India's Challenge in the singles event at the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) Open ATP challenger Men's 100 tennis championships here.
In the second round singles, Qualifier Dominik Palan, who won a couple of ITF events in India last year, ended the Challenge of Indian Davis Cupper Nagal 4-6, 6-3,6-4 in just over two hours in the event organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Tennis Stadium.
Nagal, who won the first set comfortably, looked on cruise mode before being broken early in the second set and losing the set. In the third Palan increased the pace of the match and caught Nagal on the wrong foot many times and also succeeded in breaking Nagal in the very first game of the third set.