Sumit Nagal, true to his style, struggled before retiring from the men’s singles event at the Tata Open Maharashtra on Monday.

Filip Krajinovic defeated wildcard Nagal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in an intense opener that lasted two hours and 24 minutes.

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Initially, Nagal struggled to cope with unforced errors, but as the game progressed, he gained more and more control over his groundstrokes.

Krajinovic put together a lot of power in his groundstrokes which he used to pin Nagal either side to open the field and then volleyed a winner for the point. The Serb charged further in front of the net to break Nagal’s pace.

The 25-year-old from Jhajjar lost the first set but it was not easy for the Serb to get points easily. Nagal kept the deal tight with his shots to match.

Krajinovic served to stay in the set at 4-5 when Nagal created the open with a forehand winner after an intense rally. Under pressure, the Serb opted for a backhand but Nagal grabbed the ball and fired a forehand winner to Krajinovic’s left to close out the second set.

Nagal earned two break points with a deep return in the second game, prompting an unforced error from Krajinovic, but the Serb came out with a solid serve under pressure to break free.

Serving at 30 all in game nine, Nagal took a risk when she attempted a shot but landed in the net to give Krajinovic a break point. The Indian athlete helped his rival by throwing long forehands.

Krajinovic came out to serve and was up 30-15 on a good pickup. Nagal went 30-all with a forehand winner inside and out. A winning volley on Nagal’s weak return gave the sixth seed her first match point, but Nagal saved it again with a similar shot.

Nagal hit a forehand to give the Serb his second match point, which he converted when the Indian’s forehand went wide.

In other matches, Serb Laslo Djere beat Slovak fifth seed Alex Molcan 6-2, 6-4, while Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor beat Spanish seventh seed Jaume Munar 6-4, 7-5.

French tennis player Benjamin Bonzi eliminated Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei 6-0, 6-3. Roberto Carballes Baena beat fellow Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-1, 7-5.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)