Four months ago, India’s Sumit Nagal had 900 euros (£775) in the bank but his balance was boosted by £95,000 with an Australian Open upset on Tuesday.
He beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to become the first Indian man to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam since Ramesh Krishnan defeated top seed Mats Wilander here in 1989.
He said he felt “emotional”, adding: “It hasn’t completely sunk in yet.”
Meanwhile, second seed Carlos Alcaraz beat Richard Gasquet in straight sets.
There were also wins for fellow seeded players Casper Ruud, Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev.
Ruud thrives in Melbourne heat in time for ‘fabric’ chat
On the hottest day of this year’s tournament, with temperatures reaching 30C, one player who was happy in the heat was Norwegian 11th seed Ruud, who coolly beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1 6-3 6-1.
“It’s minus 20 back home, so it’s quite a change. It’s much nicer to be in the warm summer weather,” said Ruud, who is a three-time Grand Slam finalist but has never been past the fourth round here.
“The body and tennis is feeling great. Hopefully I can have a good run down here. It’s been a couple years in a row where I wasn’t able to play as well as I hoped here. Hopefully 2024 we can turn that around.”
It took him just over two hours to set up a second-round meeting with Australian Max Purcell, giving him plenty of time for his day’s other main job – picking home decor.
He told a news conference he had a call with an interior designer later to talk about “fabric, colour, mixing”, adding: “It’s a bit different than tennis. I’m going to have to prepare for that and think about other things.”
Alcaraz overcomes spirited Gasquet
Forced to miss last year’s Australian Open because of injury, Wimbledon champion Alcaraz dominated French veteran Gasquet on his return to Melbourne Park in a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-2 win.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, who at his past four Grand Slams has won two titles and reached two semi-finals, is aiming to significantly improve his record in Melbourne – where he has not gone beyond the third round in two previous appearances.
Alcaraz remained patient when faced with stern resistance from the 37-year-old Gasquet – playing the 23rd season of his career – who saved nine break points to force a tie-break in an entertaining opening set.
But, after edging the tie-break from 5-4 down, Alcaraz’s quality shone through – although Gasquet forced him to wait until his fifth match point to finally clinch a victory which set up a second-round meeting with Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who beat Briton Dan Evans.
Elsewhere, Danish eighth seed Rune beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in what he called a “physical battle”.
German sixth seed Zverev, meanwhile, had to come from behind to beat compatriot Dominik Koepfer 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
The win came the day after German court officials set a date for his trial over domestic abuse allegations, which he denies.
Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov – fresh from winning his first ATP title since 2017 in Brisbane – also advanced, coming back to beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Nagal will get the chance to further improve his bank balance – reaching the third round brings prize money of £133,000 – when he takes on Chinese world number 140 Shang Juncheng, who is ranked three places below him.
He said he was not thinking about expectations back home, saying: “I want to go through this moment, take my time, enjoy being with my coach, have conversation, maybe eat a burger or something, and call it a night.”
