India's Sumit Nagal bows out in semi-finals of ATP Challenger Campinas

Rising Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal suffered a major blow as he crashed out of the ongoing ATP Challenger Campinas after going down against Argentinian Juan Ficovich in straight sets in the semi-final clash of the tournament on Saturday evening. 

The 22-year-old, who reached the semi-finals of the tournament without losing a set, failed to continue his good form in Brazil and went to suffer a shocking 4-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of world number 325 Ficovich in the encounter.

Notably, it was Nagal's third straight semi-final appearance after his last-four appearances at the ATP Challenger Buenos Aires and Challenger Banja Luka. The Indian tennis star, who bagged his maiden title at the Bengaluru Challenger event in 2017, has the most number of semi-final appearances this year at the ATP Challenger Tour.

Despite slumping to a defeat, Nagal will climb up to the career-best 129th position when the latest Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings release on Monday. 

On Saturday, the Indian tennis star brushed aside another Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (2), 7-5 in a thrilling last-eight clash to storm into the semi-finals.  

In August 2019, Nagal became the youngest Indian in 25 years to qualify for the main draw of the US Open after defeating Joao Menezes of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in qualification round. 

Subsequently, Nagal went on to make an impressive Grand Slam debut at the US Open by clinching the first set against 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer 6-4 in the opening round at Flushing Meadows. However, Federer rebounded strongly and brought out his experience to win the next three sets.