A Nagal victory for the ages

Becomes first Indian since Ramesh Krishnan in 1989 to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam

- Aditya Chaturvedi

Up 5-4 in the third set of his first-round match at the Australian Open on Tuesday, Sumit Nagal stepped up to serve for a remarkable victory, all too rare in singles for India. Not since Ramesh Krishnan upset world No.1 and defending champion Mats Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open had an Indian defeated a seeded player at a Grand Slam.

But Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik world No. 27 and the 31st seed arguably the most mercurial character on tour, broke back to draw level. Then began the most impressive period of play from Nagal.

The 26-year-old had eked out the opening set before breezing through the second, but Bublik seemed to have finally found his range. In form after reaching the semis at Adelaide the previous week, the Kazakh suddenly was firing winners from both flanks and pumping himself up animatedly. Would Nagal crumble? Would he be able to regain composure and close out a straightsets win?

To the delight of the number of Indian fans who had turned up at Court 6, that's exactly what Nagal went on to do. He held his next service game to love to force a tiebreaker before completing a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5) victory in two hours and 37 minutes. He had squandered two match points on serve as Bublik threatened to make a comeback right towards the end but managed to cross the line when his opponent committed a second successive double fault.