Paris: Sumit Nagal stuck to his strong baseline game but that didn’t seem to be enough against mercurial Frenchman Corentin
Moutet, who knocked out the Indian from the Paris Olympics with a stylish three-set win, here Sunday.
In his second appearance at the Olympic Games, Nagal bounced back after losing the first set but fell 2-6 6-4 5-7 in two hours and 28 minutes at a packed court seven at the Roland Garros.
In the Tokyo Games, Nagal had lost in the second round to Russian Daniil Medvedev but could not make the most of a manageable opener today.
He was up 2-0 in the decider with an early break but allowed Moutet to claw his way back and win.
It has always been a battle of attrition between Nagal and Moutet with three of their last four outings being three-set affairs and it was no different today.