Image – Balaram Dhulipala

8th seed and 101st ranked Sumit Nagal brushed past American wildcard Stefan Dostanic in straight sets, winning 6-2 6-2 in 68 minutes in the first round of qualifying. Nagal did not face a single break point in the entire match. Nagal assured himself of 10 ranking points and $14,400 prize money by virtue of making the final qualifying round.

In the second and final qualifying round, Nagal will take on the winner of the Korean derby between Seong-chan Hong and Soonwoo Kwon. Kwon, who has a career high ATP ranking of 52, is coming back from an injury and thus playing with a Protected Ranking (PR). Hong, on the other hand, is going through one of the best phases of his career, having made 2 ATP Challenger level finals this year, including one in Bengaluru recently.

This is Nagal’s first appearance at Indian Wells, often referred to as the fifth Grand Slam.

Update – While writing this article, the match between Kwon and Hong was still going on. But Hong ended up winning 6-3 6-3 to set up a clash against Nagal for a place in the main draw.

Nagal serving during the match