PUNE: Dominik Palan is a rookie who doesn't have the fear of losing.
The 22-year-old Czech, ranked a modest 412 on the ATP Tour, pulled off an upset of sorts when he knocked out home favourite Sumit Nagal 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the $130,000 PMR Open Challenger men's tennis event here on Wednesday.
The Indian played a solid first set, riding on an early break and serving clean to coast through without trouble. The roles were reversed in the second as Palan broke Nagal in the second game and maintained the lead to push the issue into the decider.
In the final set, the Czech rode on the momentum to get a break in the very opening game. Nagal staved off six more breakpoints, four of them in a long drawn seventh game that lasted 26 minutes.
But it all proved futile as Palan delivered five aces and saved two break-points while Nagal's first serve percentage began to drop in the climactic third set.
Palan had fallen in the first of qualifying in both the Challengers in Chennai and Bengaluru in the past two weeks.
But, while quite a few foreign players were falling sick due to food poisoning in Pune, Palan, who qualified for the main draw, has stayed fresh and strong to cause the tournament's first upset in Mhalunge-Balewadi. "I went into the match with nothing to lose. I knew he was the favourite. He has the home support. So to be honest, I think I didn't believe in myself too much in the first set," the right-hander said after his victory.
"But after the first set, I could see that I can actually play with him. And I can compete with him. And in the second set, I understood his game a little bit better. I changed some things, I think I started being the one dictating the points. And that was the key to this win."
Palan's run in Pune is all the more remarkable considering that three weeks of tournament play in different playing and weather conditions had begun to take a toll on the touring party.
Three doubles teams pulled out because one of their players had suffered an injury. Besides, a couple of players were done in by food poisoning.
The Czech, touchwood, has managed to stay healthy and, in fact, has enjoyed the challenges thrown at him during his stint in India so far.
