Sumit Nagal, ranked 723 in the world, put up a strong and consistent show from the baseline to outplay Ronit Singh Bisht 6-3, 6-4, to lift the singles title in the Powerpak $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men's Futures tennis tournament, here on Saturday.
Nagal started strongly and ran up a 3-0 lead as he held serve twice and broke Bisht once without much trouble. At this point, Bisht was troubled by a groin injury and called for the physio.
Bisht then began to serve more purposefully and had a little more punch in his ground strokes, which enabled him to hold serve, but Nagal went on to close out the set at 6-3.
In the second set, Bisht played forcefully, moving Nagal from corner to corner to hold serves. Nagal countered him with strong forehanded shots and excellent mobility as they drew level at 3-all.
In an exciting seventh game, Bisht broke Nagal for a 4-3 lead only to drop serve immediately. Nagal then dominated and broke Bisht to go 5-4 up and then held serve to annex the title.
Nagal received $1,440 and 18 rankings points while Bisht was richer by $848, picking up 12 points in the process.
