Sumit Nagal Through to Pre-Quaters of Prague Challenger, One Win Away from Facing Stan Wawrinka

Sumit Nagal booked his place in the round of 32of the Prague Challenger with a 6-3, 5-7, 4-1 win over Jay Clarke in 2nd round, after Clarke had to retire

Nagal was playing his first competitive match since his Davis Cup encounter against Croatia's Marin Cilic in March.

The sixth seeded Nagal had received a bye in the first round, will take on Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic in the pre-quarter-final and can face Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the Round of 16.

Nagal will also feature in the doubles with Belarusian Ilya Ivashka.

Other Indians in the fray include Divij Sharan and N Sriram Balaji, who will be competing in the doubles events with separate partners. Sharan will partner Dutchman Robin Haase and they were seeded number one. Balaji will join hands with Belgium's Kimmer Coppejans.

Back in July, Nagal become the first Indian to win an international tournament in the COVID-19 era when he lifted the PSD Bank Nord Open trophy, a locally organised clay court tournament in Germany.

Nagal has also received a direct entry into the US Open singles main draw after several top players pulled out of the Grand Slam as the world no.127 was the last man to receive direct entry into the field of 128 - which was determined using the latest ATP rankings, according to the tournament website.

(With inputs from Agenceis)