Paris Olympics 2024: Sumit Nagal fails to get past Corentin Moutet in R1

Sumit Nagal’s Paris Games campaign comes to a premature end at the Paris Olympics 2024. 

Sumit Nagal and Corentin Moutet walked onto Court 7 at Stade Roland Garros, tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head. The Indian won his recent meeting against Moutet at the ATP 250 event in Marrakech in April this season in their opening round face-off, coming through in three sets.

However, Nagal failed to pull off another escape act in a match that saw oscillating fortunes. He lost a hard-fought nailbiter to Corentin Moutet 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 2 hours and 28 minutes. Nagal also failed to capitalize on the Frenchman’s five double faults and now trails 2-3 in their career head-to-head.

Nagal was playing in his second Olympics after the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Indian finished in 17th place in the singles event that year. Meanwhile, Frenchman Moutet was making his Olympic debut appearance at the Paris Games.

Ten minutes into the match, Moutet had raced to a 2-0 lead by breaking the Indian’s serve in the opening game. A flurry of deuce exchanges saw Nagal letting go of all four breakpoint opportunities in the fourth game of the opening set. The Frenchman was up two breaks and serving for the set at 5-2 after 39 minutes. Moutet appeared to have the match in the bag when he took the first 6-2 in 44 minutes.

However, Nagal had other ideas. The Indian flipped the script in the next set, winning it 6-2 in only 39 minutes. The Indian reeled off three games in a row from 3-2, breaking Moutet’s serve in the sixth and eighth games of the second set.

After winning a lengthy opening game in the decider, Nagal took a 2-0 lead, breaking the Frenchman’s serve in the second game. Moutet broke back in the third game, leveling the proceedings at 5-5. A crucial break of serve in the eleventh game gave Moutet the edge in the closing stages of the match. The French player settled the affair in the next game, serving out the match at 40-15 with a backhand winner.

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Having defeated Nagal, Moutet, ranked No. 68 on the ATP tour, will play Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round. The Frenchman progresses in the draw’s bottom half and could run into 9th-seeded American Tommy Paul should he reach the third round. Alex de Minaur, who was to play Struff, pulled out of the singles event, giving the German a free pass into the second round.

🇮🇳 India's Sumit Nagal's Olympic campaign at the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ Paris Games comes to an end in the first round.#Paris2024 #Paris #OlympicGames #Olympic2024 #OlympicGamesParis2024 pic.twitter.com/6RuQ5w5DVU

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) July 28, 2024

Though Nagal enjoyed greater consistency with his serve, not converting any breakpoint opportunities cost the Indian dearly in the first set. Moutet getting 11/13 (85%) of second serves made up for the lower first serve percentage of 18/31 (58%) in the opening set.

Nagal put on a flawless second serve display in the match, 22/22 (100%). His first serve percentage at 67/89 (75%), too, was a great deal better than Moutet’s at 57/91 (63%). The World No. 80 from India also made fewer unforced errors—36 to 49 by Moutet. But it was of no avail, as Nagal made an early exit for the second straight time at the Olympics. In the 2020 Tokyo edition, Nagal lost in the second round to then World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.

World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz headlines the bottom half of the draw and is through with an opening-round win over Lebanese Hady Habib, 6-3, 6-1 in 70 minutes. Alcaraz will play Tallon Griekspoor in the second round after Cameron Norrie withdrew, leaving his Dutch rival to progress.

Looking at the top half of the draw, Novak Djokovic breezed past unseeded Australian Matthew Ebden in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, in just 53 minutes. The Serbian progressed to the second round and now awaits the winner of the Rafael Nadal – Marton Fucsovics match.

The Nadal – Fucsovics round is scheduled for after the women’s singles first-round match between Nadal’s compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo and the 2024 Wimbledon champion, Barbora Krejcikova.

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