Davis Cup: Exhausted Sumit Nagal falls to Kwon as India lose 1-3 to Korea

Sumit Nagal could be forgiven if, deep inside, he felt he didn't want to play the first reverse singles against Soonwoo Kwon. Having gone through a brutal three-hour, five-minute singles match on Friday evening, the India No. 1 had little time to fully recover for Saturday's key clash. As it turned out, the 29-year-old went down 1-6, 2-6 in an hour and 18 minutes as Kwon powered Korea to a 3-1 win over India in the Davis Cup Qualifier second-round tie in Seoul.Korea became the first Asian nation, under the latest format of the men's team competition, to reach the World Group Finals. India will play in the first round of the qualifiers in 2027.Down 0-2 after losing both opening singles, captain Rohit Rajpal changed the doubles combination, bringing in Dhakshineswar Suresh in place of the originally nominated Niki Poonacha to partner Sriram Balaji.The Indians won the doubles rubber first thing on Saturday morning, but the key decision the team did not make was replacing Nagal with 18-year-old Manas Dhamne.The rubber, and effectively the tie, was sealed within the first half-hour as Nagal was broken three times in the opening set, committing a double fault in each of those service games. The second set was largely a formality, given Kwon’s rousing form and Nagal running on an empty tank. The Indian won just three points behind his first serve in the opening set and six in the second.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.