Indian star Sumit Nagal put up a strong fight against Serbian ace Vicktor Troicki before going down in the singles opening round match at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra at Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Monday.
India No 2 Nagal showed immense resistance before going down 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 against the former World No 12.
The comeback man Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe begun his campaign with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win as the finallist of last edition Ivo Karlovic knockout in the first round on the opening day.
Fifth-seed Yuichi Sugita also made his way into the second round with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian ace Thomas Fabbiano.
Meanwhile in the doubles opening round match, Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Stefano Travaglia made winning start as they thrashed Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis and Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets.
The second day of the India’s premier ATP 250 event will see legendary Leander Paes in action during his doubles opening round match. Also in singles, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Arjun Kadhe will take on Germany’s Yannick Maden and Czech player Jiri Vesely respectively.