Sumit Nagal suffers Paris 2024 Olympics exit in the opening round after a loss against Corentin Moutet

Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal suffered a first-round exit in the Paris 2024 Olympics tennis men's singles event after he lost against French star Corentin Moutet at the Roland-Garros on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Indian played well against the home favourite Moutet and even mounted a comeback victory in the second set, but eventually lost the match 2-6, 6-2, 5-7.

Sumit Nagal, who is currently ranked 65 in the world, lost the match against Moutet in two hours and 28 minutes.

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Sumit Nagal bested by Corentin Moutet despite strong performance

Sumit Nagal made history even before playing a single shot in the match against Motet, as he became the first Indian tennis player since Leander Paes in Sydney 2000 to appear at two consecutive men's singles tennis events at the Olympics.

The Haryana-native tennis player started the match on the back foot, as Moutet won the first two points and eventually dominated the first set with a scoreline of 6-2.

Sumit Nagal, however, fought back against his opponent and won the first point in the second set with a stronghold. Despite the French crowd largely supporting Moutet, Nagal fought off the pressure and won the second set 6-2, sparking hopes.

The Indian player started the third set perfectly, winning the first two points. But, with the home crowd behind him, Moutet demonstrated his abilities and rallied back to tie the game 2-2. Nagal and Moutet proceeded to cancel each other's leads until Nagal settled at 5-4.

However, as the match looked set to be won by Nagal, Moutet fought back and took the set away in a 5-7 victory.

After his victory in the first round, Moutet will now face either Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff or Greece’s Petros Tsitsipas in the Round of 32 match.

As for the Indian tennis contingent, Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji will compete in the men’s doubles event against the French duo Gael Monfils and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Sunday at 11:30 pm IST.