Nagal wins thriller against Giannessi to enter Perugia Challenger quarterfinal

Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal continued his fine form as he entered the quarterfinal of the ongoing Perugia Challenger here. On Wednesday, the sixth-seeded Indian toppled unseeded local Alessandro Giannessi in a three-set thriller 0-6, 7-5, 7-6(7-5). Last week, India's top singles player had won the Heilbronn Challenger in Germany. In the opening set, Nagal received heavy thrashing after the Italian blanked him 6-0. However, the 77th-ranked Indian did not back down from a fightback and kept things close in the following set before earning a lone break and winning the set 7-5 to take things to the decider.

As for the final set, it was 'game on' for both the competitors, who eventually took to the tie-breaker, where Nagal survived to take the set 7-6(7-5).

In the quarterfinal, the Indian will face off against the winner of the pre-quarterfinal clash between Maks Kaśnikowski of Poland and third seed Borna Ćorić of Croatia.

Earlier, in the opening round, Nagal had secured a straight-set 7-6(7-1), 6-2 victory over an unseeded Nerman Fatic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.