Rohan Bopanna’s rise to No. 1 in men’s doubles — at the age of 43 — hasn’t been the lone good news for Indian tennis this year.
Bopanna, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday, is also joined by Sumit Nagal.
GET TICKETSThe 26-year-old reached the benchmark Top 100 for the first time in February and is now a win away from another milestone — seeing his name in the BNP Paribas Open main draw.
Nagal, who has never even played qualifying at Indian Wells, triumphed in his first match in the desert, beating Stefan Dostanic 6-2, 6-2 under sunny skies at Stadium 7. The current world No. 101 didn’t face a break point against the Wild Card from USC.
All this for Nagal, who just recently said he was down to his final few dollars chasing his dream playing tennis around the globe.
To get to the main draw, Nagal must overcome alternate Seongchan Hong of South Korea.
Another player with ties to NCAA tennis, Ethan Quinn, did get a win in ATP qualifying.
The 19-year-old — who won the NCAA singles title last year as a freshman with Georgia — beat Quentin Halys 6-1, 7-5 at Stadium 4 in his own Indian Wells debut.
Quinn claimed the first set in half-an-hour and led 3-0 in the second, only to see his big-serving opponent rally and hold a 5-4 lead on serve. The Fresno native, though, won the last three games to set up a contest with Italy’s Andrea Vavassori.
In a 2023 season of firsts, Quinn notched his maiden ATP win — over Nagal’s countryman, Mukund Sasikumar — and received a wild card for the US Open after his national title in college.
Yet another player making his Indian Wells bow, Benjamin Hassan, upset fifth-seed Arthur Cazaux 6-4, 6-4 at Stadium 4 post Quinn’s victory. Cazaux enjoyed a breakthrough Australian Open by making the fourth round as a wild card — upsetting Holger Rune along the way.
But the Frenchman was unable to manufacture a break point against the German-born Hassan, who holds a 13-6 singles record in the Davis Cup with Lebanon. Hassan next encounters last year’s junior Wimbledon champion and October’s Tokyo semifinalist, Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan.
Mochizuki bettered 2021 Indian Wells quarterfinalist and former world No. 8, Diego Schwartzman, 6-4, 6-3, at Stadium 6. Schwartzman, 31, lost his seventh straight match.
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