Nagal moves to second round of ATP Challenger in Germany

Braunschweig (Germany), Jul 9 (PTI) India’s top ranked tennis player Sumit Nagal moved to the second round with a facile win over Brazil’s Felipe Meligeni Alves in the Braunschweig ATP challenger here on Tuesday.

The Olympic-bound Nagal, seeded second, cruised to a 6-1 6-4 win over Alves in the clay event.

The world number 73 will take on Argentina’s Pedro Cachin in the round of 16 on Wednesday.

The tournament will serve as preparation for the Paris Olympics, which begins later this month at the Roland Garros Stadium.

Last week, Nagal had made a first round exit from Wimbledon, losing to higher-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.

Nagal is enjoying a dream season as he had also qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open earlier this year. He had stunned 31st-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the opening round to become the first Indian male tennis player to beat a seeded player in 35 years in a Slam.

He had also qualified for the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters and Monte-Carlo Masters, the ATP 1000 events.

The Indian has won two Challenger events this season the Heilbronn Challenger and the Chennai Open ATP Challenger. He also competed at the French Open, losing in the opening round.