India's Sumit Nagal put up a strong fight before going down in three sets against Serbian Vicktor Troicki in the men's singles opening round at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra on Monday.
India No 2 Nagal, who took a set away against legendary Roger Federer during his debut Grand Slam match at 2019 US Open, showed immense resistance before going down 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 against the former world No 12.
Comeback man Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany began his campaign with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over last year’s runner-up Ivo Karlovic in his first round on the opening day of South Asia’s only ATP Tour event at Balewadi Staidum.
Fifth-seed Yuichi Sugita also made his way into the second round with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian ace Thomas Fabbiano.
The 28-year-old Stebe, who has been plagued with numerous injuries that forced him to skip almost all the action between September 2013 and March 2016, dominated the former world No 14 in the first set.
Karlovic, however, tried to gain some momentum with two points before the German wrapped up the set as well as the match.
“My No 1 priority would be to stay healthy and keep myself away from any major injury. I started off a bit slow. I knew I want to focus on my game. That kept me going.”Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, after knocking out Ivo Karlovic
Meanwhile in the doubles opening round match, the Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Stefano Travaglia beat Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis and Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-4.
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