India’s Sumit Nagal had a tough challenge in the form of Max Purcell in his Round-of-16 match in the ongoing Bengaluru Open at the KSLTA courts on Thursday. Nagal suffered a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat against the Australian and with this loss, India’s singles challenge at the Dafanews Bengaluru Open 2023 ended.

The 25-year-old, who was given a wild card entry at the ATP Challenger event, won the opening set to put himself in front. However, the turning point of the match came when Purcell called for an injury time-out in the second while leading 4-3 on serve.

The Australian, who wasn’t at his best in the first set, showed his class and Nagal didn’t have many answers as he was put under the pump. Nagal was broken in the ninth game of the third set as Purcell made a rollicking return after the injury time-out.

Purcell has been in good form as he recently won the Chennai Open and he was able to seal their quarterfinal berth in the Bengaluru Open.

Meanwhile, Nagal had recently made it to the semifinal of the Chennai Open and he will be disappointed after getting knocked out of the Bengaluru Open.

Dafanews Bengaluru Open will be broadcasted on Viacom Sports18 from the quarterfiinal stages.

Results of Bengaluru Open:

Singles, round-of-16: Max Purcell (Aus) bt Sumit Nagal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; James Duckworth (Aus) bt Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (Fra) 6-1, 6-2; Dimitar Kuzmanov (Bul) bt Alibek Kachmazov 6-3, 6-4; Luca Nardi (Ita) bt Jason Jung (Tpe) 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

Doubles, quarterfinals: Anirudh Chandrasekar & N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Benjamin Lock (Zim) & Akira Santillan (Aus) 3-6, 6-4, [12-10]; Arjun Kadhe & Maximilian Neuchrist (Aut) bt Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) & Dimitar Kuzmanov (Bul) 7-5, 6-3; Marc Polmans & Max Purcell (Aus) bt Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) & Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4.