In what was his first main draw appearance at the French Open, India’s Sumit Nagal gave a decent account of himself. He ran hard as he usually does, dictated points with his forehand every now and then, and even threatened to stage a dramatic fightback. But it wasn’t quite enough as 18th seed Karen Khachanov defeated him 6-2, 6-0, 7-6(5) in the opening round on Monday.

Having reached a career-high ranking of 80 in April, this was the first time Nagal was competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam without needing a wild card or the qualifiers route. Ranked 95 now, and playing on his preferred surface, he would have been hopeful of earning his third win at a Major. But Khachanov proved too powerful through the two hours and 27 minutes on Court 7.

Nagal got broken early, despite saving three break points, to go 1-2 down before play was interrupted for an hour and a half due to rain. With the conditions a lot heavier when action resumed, the 26-year-old struggled to generate top-spin and impose himself.

Khachanov was in complete control after the break and raced through the first two sets. He was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third but Nagal broke back before forcing a tie-breaker. It seemed the momentum had shifted decidedly but the Russian regained his composure to close out the contest.

The final score perhaps didn’t do justice to how well Nagal played as he did have his moments. His first serve percentage was 73, as compared to his opponent’s 64, and he even earned as many as nine break points. But he could convert just one of them and was probably guilty of being too passive in key points.

Overall, though, it’s been a memorable year so far for Nagal. He overcame Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik at the Australian Open in January to become the first Indian since 1989 to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam.

Weeks later, he won the ATP Challenger event in Chennai before reaching the semi-finals in Bengaluru. After a first-round loss at Indian Wells, he beat 38th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi in the opener at Monte-Carlo and took a set off 13th-ranked Holger Rune in round two, which assured him a spot in the main draw at Roland Garros.

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