Sumit Nagal crashes out of Montemar Challenger after 1st-round defeat 

Sumit Nagal failed to make his way through to the second round of the Montemar Challenger 2024. On Tuesday, November 19, the Indian star lost in straight sets to Edas Butvilas of Lithuania. It took the Lithuanian an hour and 13 minutes to win the match 6-3, 7-5 and knock Nagal out of the competition.

Butvilas will next be up against Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic on Thursday, November 21. The 20-year-old is also set to play doubles with Villus Gaubas in their opening-round match on Wednesday, November 20, against the Dutch pair of Ryan Nijboer and Michiel De Krom.

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Sumit Nagal struggles in Montemar Challenger

Sumit Nagal struggled throughout the match and succumbed to pressure, eventually. In the opening set, the 27-year-old Nagal converted the only break-point chance he got but dropped his serve twice.

Nagal did not find his range with his first and second serves, winning 59 percent (16 out of 27) and 38 percent (three out of eight) points from them.

In the second set, Nagal broke Butvilas’ serve two times, but he conceded three breaks of serves did not help his cause by any means. Yet again, he struggled with his first serves, winning only 44 percent points from them (eight out of 18).

Although he had an excellent serve-win percentage of 71 (10 out of 14), they could not save him from a defeat. Butvilas dominated Nagal with an overall win percentage of 79 (31 out of 39) from his first serves.

Nagal hasn’t had the best of times of late. Earlier in November, he could not go beyond the opening round of the Moselle Open. Before that, Nagal failed in the qualifying rounds of the Paris Masters and Swiss Indoors.