Sumit Nagal awarded main draw wildcard for Bengaluru Open Challenger

Sumit Nagal is the first wild card entrant at the fifth edition of the ATP Challenger event, which will be organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru.

FILE PHOTO: India’s Sumit Nagal. | Photo Credit: AP

Sumit Nagal was on Tuesday awarded a wild card entry into the singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open 2023, scheduled from February 20 to 26.

The 25-year-old former India No. 1 is the first wild card entrant at the fifth edition of the ATP Challenger event, which will be organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru.

“We are delighted to give Nagal the first wild card of the fifth Bengaluru Open. He is an excellent player and has won his maiden ATP Challenger title here. We are committed to providing our Indian players a world-class platform to rub shoulders with the best names from the tennis world through this tournament. Nagal is one of those players who have performed well here and carried that momentum to do well in their careers. I’m confident that he will make the most of this opportunity and produce a good show,” said Sunil Yajaman, Tournament Director of Bengaluru Open and Joint Secretary of KSLTA.

Nagal won his first ATP Challenger title in Bengaluru in 2017. He also had quarterfinal and prequarterfinal finishes during his other two outings at the same tournament in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

Nagal will be part of the singles field comprising former World No. 10 Lucas Pouille and last year’s champion Chun-hsin Tseng among others.