Nagal is one match away from main draw

MELBOURNE: India’s Sumit Nagal is just one match away from making the main draw of the Australian Open tennis tournament as he reached the final round of the qualifying tournament on Thursday.

Nagal defeated Australian Edward Winter, a wild card, in the second qualifying match 6-3, 6-2 that lasted one hour and four minutes at the KIA Arena. The 26-year-old Indian will face Alex Molcan of Slovakia in the final qualifying round on Friday for a place in the season-opening Grand Slam event.

If Nagal, currently 139th in the singles world ranking, wins on Friday, he will enter the main round of a Grand Slam event for the first time since 2021 and fourth overall.

He made it to the main round of the US Open in 2019 and 2020, and then featured in the Australian Open main draw in 2021.