Melbourne: India's Sumit Nagal put up a strong fight before going down in three sets against Serbian Vicktor Troicki in the men's singles opening round at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, here on Monday. India number two Nagal, who took a set away against legendary Roger Federer during his debut Grand Slam match at 2019 US Open, showed immense resistance before going down 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 against the former world number 12. Comeback man Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany began his campaign with an impressive 6-3 6-4 win over last year's runner-up Ivo Karlovic in his first round on the opening day of South Asia's onlyP Tour event at Balewadi Staidum.

Fifth-seed Yuichi Sugita also made his way into the second round with a convincing 6-3 6-0 win over Italian ace Thomas Fabbiano. The 28-year-old Stebe, who has been plagued with numerous injuries that forced him to skip almost all the action between September 2013 and March 2016, dominated the former world no. 14 in the first set.