In his second appearance at the Olympic Games, Nagel bounced back after losing the first set but lost 2-6, 6-4, 5-7 in two hours and 28 minutes on court seven of Roland Garros.
Paris: Sumit Nagal stuck to his strong ground game but it did not seem enough on Sunday against flamboyant Frenchman Corentin Maudet, who knocked the Indian out of the Paris Olympics with a stylish three-set win.
In his second appearance at the Olympic Games, Nagel bounced back after losing the first set but lost 2-6, 6-4, 5-7 in two hours and 28 minutes on court seven of Roland Garros.
At the Tokyo Games, Nagel lost to Russian Daniil Medvedev in the second round but was unable to make the most of a tackleable opener today.
He went 2-0 up with an early break in the deciding game but allowed Maudet to come back and win.
Nagel and Maudet have always had their differences, three of their last four encounters were three-set affairs, and today was no different.
Nagel defeated Maudet in their last meeting at the Hassan Grand Prix in the Moroccan city of Marrakech in April this year.
“He is one of the most talented players we have on the ATP Tour. It is always tough to compete against him. For him and me it has never been a straight-sets win. Today is another great match,” Nagel told PTI in Milan.
“Of course, I didn’t like the way I finished the contest, getting broken at 15 and then falling to love. I would say, there were many errors at the end. That’s one of the things I really want to change,” he said.
It appears Nagel has no Plan B, but Moutet has a few tricks up his sleeve to keep his opponent calm.
He served underhand many times and used drop shots, forehand and backhand slices very effectively.
The chants of Coco-Coco, Aale-Aale and Moutet-Moutet certainly gave the home player the energy he needed in such a slugfest.
“The atmosphere is crazy and you feel like it’s in your face. But I don’t think that’s the reason, I would say, that I failed. Mistakes were made by me and to me,” said Nagel.
Nagel had a nervous start because of the raging crowd behind Maudet.
A drop volley error on 30 cost him a break point.
Another unforced error cost him the opening match.
The Frenchman started with an underarm serve, much to the delight of the home fans.
However, he committed a double fault.
It was an easy catch for the left-hander, though Nagel also came back with a catch at love.
When Maudet was asked if he liked winning points in that style, he said, “I use it as a weapon. Whether I take points with an ace or an underarm serve, I will do it. Calling it ugly is another point of view.” Nagel said he expected under-arm serves from him but apparently he did not appreciate it.
“He has great hands, he is a great fighter, it (underarm serve) is ugly because you are not used to it, but if he is winning points in matches like this, I don’t think it will matter to him.” Maudet struggled a bit on his first serve but gave Nagel more balls and hit more on his backhand to push the break.
Nagel had a chance to come back in the fourth game but squandered four break points.
He missed another break point in the fifth game but was saved when Maudet missed down the line on his return.
On game seven, he once again made the supporters happy in the stadium.
Trouble 2-4, Nagel held serve but missed an overhead volley on break point.
Maudet won the opening set when Nagel’s forehand return went above the baseline.
In the second set, Nagel found his rhythm and did not cause one-way traffic.
No free points are awarded.
By the fifth game, the set was on serve.
After playing two deuce points, Maudet again under-served and this time Nagel hit the return to give him the point.
Nagel finally got the first break of the game when Maudet’s dropped shot fell into the net.
Earlier, on the second break point, while hitting a return, Nagel slammed his racket on the court and expressed his frustration.
However, he found himself with a significant margin.
The crowd stood up and started singing their favourite French national anthem.
However, Nagel maintained the lead and Maudet levelled the match with a volley return in the eighth game.
The Frenchman again tried to break the momentum by giving Nagel more balls and drop shots and almost succeeded, but Nagel stuck to his guns and survived the early break.
He broke Maudet’s serve when he double-faulted while facing his fourth break point.
Leading 2-0 in the deciding game, Nagel had every chance to run away with the match but found himself trailing 0-40.
He saved the first break point but a drive volley mistake sent the set back on serve.
Serving at 5-5, Nagel started by hitting a forehand into the net, and Maudet found the winner on the run with a superb forehand slice.
Another forehand mistake caused Nagel to go down three break points.
He missed a half volley and lost his fourth point in a row.
From there it was not difficult for Maudet to finish the match.
He will play either Australian world number six Alex de Minaur or Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.
