India’s Sumit Nagal beats World No 31 Alexander Bublik in AO first round to script history

India’s Sumit Nagal scripted history on Tuesday when he beat World No 31 Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5) in straight sets and advanced into the second round of the Australian Open 2024. He will now face the winner of Mackenzie McDonald and Shang Juncheng in the second round.

With this win, Nagal became the first Indian player since 1989 to defeat a seeded player at a Grand Slam. Ramesh Krishnan was the first to achieve the feat during that year’s Australian Open.

Nagal, who is the top-ranked Indian singles, brushed aside Slovakia’s Alex Molcan without losing a set to reach the main draw of a Major for the fourth time in his career.

During his qualifying campaign, where he did not drop a set in his three matches, Nagal looked in good shape, keeping in mind how he recovered from a series of injuries to be ranked 122 after being out of the top 500 for much of last year.

The 26-year-old himself was the last Indian to play in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam, at the 2021 Australian Open. He had received a singles wildcard reserved for one player from the Asia-Pacific region.

Nagal, at the 2020 US Open, became the first Indian since Somdev Devvarman to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam.

The legendary Ramesh Krishnan had qualified for the third round a total of five times in his career at the Australian Open – 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, and 1989. He had also famously beaten world No. 1 Mats Wilander in the second round in 1989.

Another Indian who has gone beyond the first round in the Australian Open is Vijay Amritraj. He had reached the second round at the 1984 Australian Open while Leander Paes also did so on multiple occasions, in 1997 and 2000.

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