New Delhi, Oct 13: Sumit Nagal apologised to the Portuguese crowd for his talking gesture after securing a remarkable come-from-behind round-1 win over home favourite Henrique Rocha at the Maia Open ATP 100.
Nagal secured a stellar 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) win over second-seed Rocha in one hour and 21 minutes to march into the round of 16 in what was the Indian's first-ever match on indoor clay.
However, he has apologised to the crowd and Rocha for his gesture following the win. "To the crowd in Maia, I want to apologise for the talking gesture I made after the match. It was a heat-of-the-moment reaction, and it wasn’t the right way to respond," Nagal wrote on his Instagram story.
"I respect everyone who came out to watch, and I appreciate you being there. I’ve also spoken to Henrique and apologised to him personally," he added.
Nagal was on the verge of losing the match on multiple occasions. Rocha, who came into the match eight days after winning a special title in Porto, was serving to win the match twice in the third set when he was 5-4 up first and then 6-5 up. It was 4-4 in the third set when Nagal was serving.
However, the Portuguese broke to lead 5-4 and was serving to close the match. That's when Nagal broke to level 5-5 before losing his serve to give Rocha a 6-5 lead as the second seed then served for the match, but Nagal yet again broke him to level 6-6 and push the match into a tie-break.
In the tie-break, the Indian No.1 was 2-0 up and then 4-2 but conceded the next three points to be 4-5 behind. However, Nagal found enough to win the next three points and close the match.
Nagal will be facing either Portugal's Tiago Pereira or Luka Mikrut next in the pre-quarters.
Nagal came into the tournament after a quarterfinal appearance at the Asian Games, where he was knocked out in the last-eight clash after losing to China's Yibing Wu 4-6, 4-6.
--IANS