Defending champion Nagal beats last year finalist Clarke in 1st round

Enduring a dismal season this year, defending champion Sumit Nagal Monday began his campaign at the USD 150,000 Bengaluru Open with a bang by defeating last year's finalist Briton's Jay Clarke in the opening round.

Nagal, who had won his maiden Challenger title last year, defeated Clarke 6-4 7-5.

The Indian youngster broke Clarke in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead in the opening set and served it out with a forehand return from the baseline in the next game.

In the second set, Nagal took an early lead 2-1 as he broke Clarke, but the Briton came back strong by breaking the Indian youngster, making it 2-2.

Trailing 4-5, Nagal broke Clarke for the second time to level scores. The Indian was down a breakpoint in that game and broke again for a 6-5 lead. He sealed the match on his serve.

The Indian pair of Arjun Khade and Saketh Myneni downed Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand 6-3 3-6 11-9 to move to the doubles quarterfinal.

In yet another doubles match, India's S D Prajwal Dev and Niki Poonacha overwhelmed Alexander Pavlioutchenkov of Russia and Filip Peliwo of Canada 1-6, 7-6 (3), 10-2.

However, India's Chandril Sood and Lakshit Sood bowed out after being trounced 2-6 2-6 by Max Purcell and Luke Saville of Australia.