Sumit Nagal to face Wawrinka in Prague Challenger quarterfinals

Sixth seed Sumit Nagal beat wild card Jiri Lehecka 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Prague Challenger and he will face top seed Stan Wawrinka next.

Sumit Nagal will either meet Stan Wawrinka or Oscar Otte in the quarters.

India’s top singles player Sumit Nagal set up a Prague Open quarterfinal clash against three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka following a come-from-behind victory over the lower-ranked Kiri Lehecka.

The sixth seed and world number 127, Nagal, had to battle hard to win 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the two-hour and 21-minute second round contest against the local player, ranked 617.

Nagal, who played against Roger Federer at the US Open last year, will test his game against the Swiss, who also rallied to beat Germany’s Oscar Otte. Wawrinka had won 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 54 minutes.

In the doubles draw, the top seeded Indo-Dutch combo of Divij Sharan and Robin Haase also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jonas Forejtek and Michael Vrbensky.

Another Indian advancing to the doubles quarterfinals was N Sriram Balaji, who has paired with Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans. They defeated Andres Molteni and Hugo Nys 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 in their round-of-16 match.