Indian top tennis player, Summit Nagal, was stopped in the semi-finals of the Crossklinik Open tournament in Switzerland over the weekend.
Nagal had reached the last four after betaing Sumit Nagal beat Maximilian Gatev 6-0 7-5, Paul Woerner 6-1 6-1, Sumit Nagal beat Gian Luca Tanner 6-0 (retd.), beat Raphael Baltensperger 6-2 6-3, Marc Andrea Huesler 7-6 7-6, from the first round to the quarter-finals but lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, Marco Trungelliti.
The Argentine defeated Nagal, who was number one in the tournament 1-6, 2-6. Trungelliti, who is number 231 in the world, beat Swiss player, Johan Nikles who is 500 on the ATP ranking in a gripping duel” with 6-4, 7-6.
In the women category, Viktorija Golubic emerged winner after defeating Conny Perri.
The Swiss had defeated top favorite Varvara Gracheca in the quarter-final of a tournament that witnessed the presence of few top tennis players. The top seeds failed to take advantage of that as players below their rank went home with the highest paycheques.
The world number 123 won the national clay-court tournament in Basel and pocketed 4,200 francs in a dominating final against Perrin who is number 255 on the WTA ranking. The Swiss dispatched her opponent in the final 6-3 6-2.
On the other hand, Perrin recorded five victories before advancing to the final, while Golubic won six games without losing a single set.
In the end, the top favorite among women was not at the top of the podium either. The Russian Varvara Gracheca was defeated by the Swiss in the quarterfinals.
The 27-year-old is currently the third-best in the country. She defeated 17-year-old Clara Tauson, Junior Australian Open champion in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Stevan Popovic won in the final of the men’s weaker tableau against Raphael Hemmerle. Popovic later did a surprising thing by passing half of his own prize money of 600 francs on to the two finalists from the main men’s tableau.
He explained that as a former competitive athlete, he understood how difficult the coronavirus pandemic had affected players in the lower cadre.
Michaela Vogel won the lower women’s tableau after Sydney Weller did not compete in the final.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
