Sumit Nagal knocked out in second round

India’s top-ranked tennis player Sumit Nagal suffered a narrow defeat against Great Britain’s Felix Gill in a gripping second-round encounter at the Pune ATP Challenger 2026, also known as the Maha Open, on Thursday.

Competing at the Balewadi Tennis Stadium, Sumit Nagal, 286th in the tennis rankings, went down 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3 in a marathon contest lasting two hours and 37 minutes.

Nagal made a strong start to the match, breaking twice in the opening set to take the lead on two occasions. However, he was unable to consolidate on his serves as the set headed into a closely fought tie-break, which Gill edged.

The Indian tennis player responded emphatically in the second set, delivering a dominant bagel to level the match at one set apiece.

With momentum on his side, Nagal looked poised to turn the contest around. However, world No. 300 Gill, whom Nagal had defeated at the Chennai Open earlier this month, regrouped in the decider and secured the crucial break to seal the win.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania produced a clinical performance to outclass qualifier Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-0 in just 58 minutes.

Butvilas controlled the baseline exchanges from the outset and wrapped up the contest emphatically, not allowing his opponent any joy in the second set.

In the biggest upset of the day, Japanese qualifier Masamichi Imamura stunned second seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 19 minutes.

Imamura played fearless tennis and capitalised on key break-point opportunities to secure a straight-sets victory.

Indian hopes in singles at the ATP Challenger 75 event will now rest on local wildcard Manas Dhamne, who will take on Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Pune Challenger 2026 results: Day 4

Singles main draw (second round)

Edas Butvilas [8] (LTU) bt [Q] Tung-Lin Wu (TPE) 6-3, 6-0

Felix Gill (GBR) bt Sumit Nagal (IND) 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3

[Q] Masamichi Imamura (JPN) bt Jay Clarke [2] (GBR) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles main draw (quarter-finals)

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