Bengaluru: Sumit Nagal was put through his sternest test yet by Coleman Wong but the second seeded Indian had enough grunt in him to fight past the Hong Kong man to enter the quarter-finals of the Bengaluru Open here on Thursday.
Nagal won 6-2 7-5 after an hour and 46 minutes of intense battle. But the beginning belied the struggles awaited Nagal in the later stages of the match.
Nagal continued the pattern of earning an early break when he went up 2-0 in the opening set. But it was not all smooth sailing as the 26-year-old had to battle past from 0-30 down in the very next game to hold his serve.
Nagal got another break in the eighth game to bag the first set 6-2. But the 19-year-old Wong had more fight in him in the second set.
After the first four games went by serve, the Hong Kong player broke Nagal in the fifth game, and it was the first time the Indian dropped his serve in this tournament.
Wong found his serves and ground shots going during this passage, as Nagal looked a tad perplexed by the unexpected fightback.
However, the world No. 98 broke back in the sixth game itself to restore the parity at 3-3, though it was more the result of his rival committing a couple of unforced errors.