Australian Open 2018

[ornatebrute]

Early break in the decider.

[suresh]

I missed some part but I think Sumit may have missed some set points serving at 5-4.

Yes, he was up 40-15 with two set points that he wasted.

[Daniel]

In all three matches featuring Indians today, whoever lost the first set went on to win the match.

Will Sumit continue this trend?

He does look set to continue the trend

[sameerph]

Phew, Sumit saves 2 break points at 15-40 and holds to lead 3-1.

But, in the next service game, he again went down 15-40 and this time could only get it back to 30 and gets broken. It is all square at 3-3 in the third set.

[Daniel]

Phew, Sumit saves 2 break points at 15-40 and holds to lead 3-1.

But, in the next service game, he again went down 15-40 and this time could only get it back to 30 and gets broken. It is all square at 3-3 in the third set.

dont worry. he'll break again

[sameerph]

Hope so. As of now, he missed a break point and Giannessi holds after 4 deuces for 4-3.

And he gets broken again for 3-5. 4 straight games lost and Giannessi will serve for the match.

[Daniel]

Damn. it was not to be. So close for Sumit

[Rajiv]

,that's an unfortunate result
sigh... the wait continues for transition to the next level

[sameerph]

All over.

[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,216) l. Alessandro Giannessi (ITA,161) 67(5) 63 36

So many opportunities missed by Sumit here. This match could have been over in straight sets if he had taken of the 2 set points on his serve at 5-4, 40-15. Then, squandered a 3-1 advantage in the third set and lost 5 straight games.

Just looked a bit tired in the end and made some bad unforced errors just when Giannessi himself was not looking at his best at the start of the third set. His first grans slam qualies match. Hope he learns something from this.

[Daniel]

Did he lack stamina or was he simply unable to manage the nerves? At both times he faltered when he was close to winning the set or the match.

[sameerph]

It could be nerves when he failed to close out the first set. Towards the end, it could be stamina. He has had issues with cramps in the past. After he failed to break back Giannessi in the 7th game and he went up 4-3, Sumit just gave away the last 2 games without much fight at all.

[PKBasu]

Sumit has transitioned very rapidly over the past few months from Futures to Challengers (basically only in November 2017) and then onto the ATP tour (Pune) and a Slam qualifier (here at the AO). If he had successfully pulled off the double transition, it would have been a massive shot in the arm for his career. Instead, we have a valuable learning experience — amid absolutely clear evidence that he already belongs at this level (Challengers and ATP/Slam qualifiers) at the age of 20. The future for Sumit Nagal is very exciting indeed!

[PKBasu]

Giannessi made R2 at the US Open in 2016, and reached a career-high ranking of 84 in July 2017. Although now ranked only 161 (and aged 27), he is an experienced campaigner at this level and is a solid hard-court player. The close loss to him is no disgrace at all for 20 year old Sumit.

[jaydeep]

Superb fighting comeback wins by our #1 and #2 against tricky players ... Missed opportunities for Sumit and Prajnesh but overall heartening performances for them and they will improve in their future grand slam matches.

RamK will be faced top-150 type Frenchman Sakharov in the second qualifying ... On the paper, Yuki's next match looks winnable against Spanish Taberner.

[Q2] (28) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,139) vs Gleb Sakharov (FRA,153)
[Q2] (15) Yuki Bhambri (IND,121) vs Carlos Taberner (ESP,186)

[arjun2761]

Decent matchups for our guys in Q2.

Sakharov is a 29 year old journeyman who is at his career high. He played futures level almost exclusively for the first half of 2017 before moving onto challenger level in the second half and having some success at the challenger level as well (typically winning a couple of rounds in many of the events).

Taberner is a rising 20 year old who also played some futures but has mostly been playing challengers over the last year with similar success at the challenger level. However, he seems to almost exclusively be playing on clay in 2017, so perhaps he is a clay court specialist.

Both RamK and Yuki have a pretty good chance to advance if they are in good form.