European Challengers 2022

[jayakris]

At the Meerbusch Challenger (clay), GER

[R1] (PR) Sumit Nagal (IND,504) d. (ALT) Dan Added (FRA,177), 76(1) 63

Pretty good win there! He plays Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,190) or 6th seed Geoffrey Blancaneaux (ITA,150) next.

[arjun2761]

I think Dan Added's singles ranking is 294 (he is 177 in doubles). Nevertheless, a decent win for Sumit!

[PKBasu]

There is little doubt that Sumit's comeback is back on track. He wanted to be sure of that himself before using his PR for a Challenger. And this week, he's done that in both singles and doubles. Nice singles win to start that week.

[sameerph]

Sumit would play Italian Arnaboldi who upset 6th seeded Frenchman in first round.

At Meerbusch Challenger 80 (clay), GER

[R2] (PR) Sumit Nagal (IND,504) vs. Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,195)

Arnaboldi is 34 year old but has reached career high ranking of only 153. So, looks like challenger level player for years but will be tough on clay as most European are.

[jayakris]

I think Dan Added's singles ranking is 294 (he is 177 in doubles). Nevertheless, a decent win for Sumit!

Ah, I didn't look closely. That makes sense. I was wondering why he was even an ALT with that ranking... Yeah, a decent win, still.

[sameerph]

Another excellent win for Sumit;.

At Meerbusch Challenger 80 (clay), GER

[R2] (PR) Sumit Nagal (IND,504) d. Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,195) 75 76(2)

In the first set he was up a double break early 3-0 only to be back on serve but then saved a couple of breakpoint at 4-4 to hold and then won that set. In the second set came back from 2-5 to win that set and match.

His first top 200 win since return from injury.

Bala and Jeevan also won their first round match.

[R1] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d Karol Drzewiecki (POL)/ Patrik Niklas-Salminen (FIN) 75 63

[arjun2761]

Solid win by Sumit, who is finally getting close to his pre-injury form. Looks like #89 Zapata-Mirales may be his next opponent. Given that he ran #59 Lehecka close last week, he has a chance even if he will be an underdog in the QF.

[arjun2761]

At Meerbusch Challenger 80 (clay), GER

[R1] (PR) Jonas Forejtek/ Sumit Nagal (IND) vs Adrian Andreev (BUL)/ Alexey Vatutin (RUS) 6-0, 6-3

Surprisingly easy win for Sumit in doubles. I would not think that Sumit would be specially great in doubles but this is a very strong win for his pairing.

[jayakris]

At Meerbusch Challenger 80 (clay), GER

[QF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Jaroslav Pospisil (CZE)/ Volodoymyr Uzhylovskyi (UKR), 64 61
[QF] (PR) Jonas Forejtek (CZE)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) d. Filip Bergevi (SWE)/ Alexander Donski (BUL), 64 64

Again, two good wins without any struggles. Bergevi/Donski had upset the 2nd seeds before.

[SF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (1) David Pel (NED)/ Szymon Walkow (POL)
[SF] (PR) Jonas Forejtek (CZE)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) vs (4) Neil Oberleitner (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

[PKBasu]

Excellent run in singles and doubles for Sumit. Arnaboldi is a pure Challenger journeyman (who has won numerous Futures titles -- 7 in 14 finals on clay, 1 runner-up on hard -- but no Challenger singles title despite making 2 finals), but still a tough nut to crack. I too wouldn't have expected Sumit to be a good doubles player, but he has a junior Wimbledon doubles title, so his skills seem to be good enough for a decent doubles career too. The first two doubles wins here have been very smooth indeed.

[jayakris]

[QF] (PR) Sumit Nagal (IND,504) l. (1) Zapata Miralles (ESP,89), 26 61 57

I saw the last couple of games. ZM was serving for the match for the first time at 5-4 30-15 but Sumit played very well, including winning an excellent 22 shot-rally, to break him and even it at 5-5. But a double fault and an unforced error on a mishit forehand were his undoing, as Sumit got broken again. The top seed served it off easily after that. [EDIT later: From the archived video of the match, it turns out that Sumit was down 0-3 and then 2-5 in the third set, before he pulled off back to back breaks to even it. Unfortunate to lose track after that comeback!]

But a pretty good match even in a loss, by Sumit. His movements and shots are back. Things are looking up!

And in doubles,

[SF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. (1) David Pel (NED)/ Szymon Walkow (POL), 36 76(5) [6-10]
[SF] (PR) Jonas Forejtek (CZE)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) l. (4) Neil Oberleitner (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT), 26 46

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 90 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Hard), Poland

[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Boris Arias (BOL)/ Federico Zeballos (BOL)

[sameerph]

Bala and Jeevan started with a good comeback win.

At the Challenger 90 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Hard), Poland

[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Boris Arias (BOL)/ Federico Zeballos (BOL) 26 76(3) 10-8

Next,

[QF] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs. (3) Romain Arneodo (MON) / Jonny O'Mara (GBR)

[sameerph]

They lost in QF.

At the Challenger 90 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Hard), Poland

[QF] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. (3) Romain Arneodo (MON) / Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 57 67(6)

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Banja Luka (hard), Bosnia-Herzegovina

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA)

Arjun lost the singles Q1 match against the 10th seed Alexandar Lazarov (BUL,389), 36 26