India's Sumit Nagal breezed into the singles semifinal of the Tampere ATP Challenger event in Finland following a straight-sets win over Argentine qualifier Nicolas Kicker on Friday.
Nagal, ranked 306, pulled off a 6-4 6-3 win over Kicker, who is ranked 361 in the singles ATP chart.
It was third meeting between the two players and Nagal now leads the head-to-head record 2-1. The last time they clashed was in 2022 when Kicker emerged winner in the Guayaquil pre-quarterfinals.
The 28-year-old Indian won 67 points to 51 of his rival.
Gradually getting back to form, Nagal has now matched his best finish of the season as he had ended a semifinalist at the Trieste Challenger in Italy.
Nagal has won six Challenger singles titles from 10 finals.
Meanwhile, competing at the Cranbrook Tennis Classic in Bloomfield Hills in the USA, second-seeded Indian pair of Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ramkumar Ramanathan made a quarterfinal exit after losing 6-4 4-6 7-10 to local wildcards Stefan Dostanic and Benjamin Kittay.
