The 2024 Australian Open has been special for the emerging list of new contenders to win the title. Anybody could upset Novak Djokovic to be the new champion. For Indians, Sumit Nagal from Haryana has made his countrymen proud with his performance so far. He is scheduled to play Shang Juncheng next in the Second Round, and whoever wins the game will very likely face defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the Third Round.
Nagal will play against Juncheng on 18th January at 1:30 pm local time. Juncheng is currently ranked 140 globally, whereas Nagal is slightly better at 137. But neither will matter when these players look to advance to the Third Round of the AO for the first time in their Grand Slam career.
Nagal recently created history by beating Kazakhstan tennis professional Alexander Bublik in the First Round of the AO. He became the first Indian player to defeat a seeded tennis player (Bublik is seeded 31) in any Grand Slam since Ramesh Krishnan beat Matts Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open Second Round. Not only that, he also won the match convincingly in three sets: 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
The first Indian man in 3️⃣5️⃣ years to beat a seed at a Grand Slam @nagalsumit • #AusOpen • #AO2024 • @Kia_Worldwide • #Kia • #MakeYourMove pic.twitter.com/SY55Ip4JaG
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2024
Nagal was denied the Wildcard entry for not competing in the Davis Cup, but Juncheng entered the Majors via a wildcard. After reaching the ATP semi-final for the first time in his career, Juncheng also scored his first Majors win against Mackenzie Macdonald of the USA. The score was 6-3, 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
As for the potential match Alcaraz, the Spaniard is matched up against Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the Second Round. It is extremely expected of Alcaraz to make it through to the next round unless there is a massive upset. He beat Richard Gasquet in the First Round in three sets.
How does Nagal and Juncheng match up against each other?
Nagal also became the second Indian after Somdev Devvarman in 2013 to reach the Second Round of AO. He will be facing Juncheng for the first time in his career and as it stands, Nagal holds a slight advantage.
Besides being slightly ahead in ranking, Nagal has a win-loss ratio of 4-3 as compared to Juncheng’s 13-11 in the past year. He is only, just decimally ahead. He also has an 81.8% service and 34.5% return rate of success. In comparison, Juncheng has won 77.4% on service and 21% on returns. Nagal clearly beats Juncheng in most, if not all, aspects of the game. However, this is not to say he will absolutely win the match.
To be fair to Juncheng, he is only 18 years old and is just starting his tennis career. It’s only uphill for the young star from Beijing. Either way, it calls for a riveting contest between the two at Melbourne Park Court No. 13.
