Cagliari (Italy): India's Sumit Nagal bowed out in the opening round of the ATP 250 Sardegna Open, losing a hard-fought three-set match to Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik here on Tuesday.
Both world No. 136 Nagal and world No. 124 Kovalik came into the main draw through qualifying rounds and the Slovak prevailed 3-6 6-1 6-3 in a contest that lasted for two hours and 13 minutes.
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Nagal had earlier won both his qualifying round games in straight sets.
He won 6-2, 6-1 against Frenchman Maxime Janvier in the second round of qualifiers to make it to the main draw.
Prior to that, he defeated local player Andrea Pellegrino 6-3, 6-4 in the first qualifying round.
