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India's Sumit Nagal suffered a straight-set defeat against Karen Khachanav in the first round of the French Open 2024. The Russian registered a 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 at court 7 victory in a rain-interrupted match which lasted less than two hours. Nagal has been on a dream run in 2024 after reaching the main draw of the Australian Open, Monte Carlo Masters
Khachanov was leading 2-1 in the first set when rain stopped play. But after this delay, the 18th seed Russian zoomed through Set 1 to register a 6-2 victory. Khachanav continued his incredible form and didn't allow Nagal to win a single game in Set 2 as he was 2-0 up with a 6-0 margin.
Nagal crashes out in Rd 1 after 2-6, 0-6, 6-7 defeat against Khaachanov
Then in the third, Nagal fought back to take the game into a tie-breaker but eventually, the Indian fell short as Karen Khachanav registered a 7-6 win to seal the match. After Roland Garros, Nagal will be playing in Wimbledon as he was named in the main draw and became the first Indian to do so since Prajnesh Gunneswaran back in 2019.
Let's be honest, it's a huge challenge: Somdev Devvarman on Nagal's RD 1 clash
Ahead of the match, former Indian tennis star Somdev Devvarman deemed Khachanov to be a tough opponent for Nagal. Speaking on Sony Sports, Devvarman said, "Let's be honest, it's a huge challenge. Karen Khachanov is one of the toughest matches out there, and the two-time quarterfinalist at other majors as well."
And, over the last four or five years, he's always been one of those very consistent performers. He loves taking the ball early, loves dictating play from the baseline. It's a really tough match. But I'd like to see a fight. I think Sumit has it in him." he continued.
