MELBOURNE: Sumit Nagal was expecting a clash against a top-10 player in his opener but the India tennis player on Friday drew Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis as his first round opponent at the Australian Open.
It will be Nagal’s second clash against the world number 72 in as many weeks after losing to the Lithuanian early this week in the build up event.
If Nagal, a wild card entrant and world number 139, can cross the first hurdle, he will run into either 19th seed Russian Karen Khachanov or local wild card Aleksandar Vukic.
It will be Nagal’s third Grand Slam men’s singles appearance, having competed in US Open (2019, 2020) twice.
However, Ankita Raina, who was waiting to know if she gets ‘lucky loser’ spot in the women’s singles, could not make the cut.
In the men’s doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Divih Sharan will compete with their respective partners.