HYDERABAD: Riding on 29-year-old Marcos Baghdatis’ two crucial wins, Pune Marathas eked out a 26-25 win over hosts Hyderabad Aces in the Champions Tennis League tie at the Lal Bahadur Tennis Stadium on Tuesday. The Pune team was down 0-2, losing their legends and mixed doubles matches but they won their next three matches, with Baghdatis playing a major role in changing their fortunes. They won the match, but more importantly, they won one point more than the Hyderabad team.
“It was a perfect finish. Marcos played great,” said Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion. It was not a good start for Pune as Mark Philippoussis, who trained under Cash, gave the home team a good start by winning the Legends match 6-3.
Baghdatis, ranked 89th in the world, then combined with World No 6 Agnieszka Radwanska to give tough competition to Martina Hingis and Mikhail Youzhny. The Hyderabad pair held their nerve to win 5-3 and consolidated their overall lead to 12-8.
The younger Radwanska then played with great authority against the 34-year-old Hingis in the women’s singles. Hingis blundered at the start as Radwanska broke her at the second game itself. The athletic Polish girl was all aggression and broke an off-colour Hingis again in the sixth game to gain total control of the match. She won 6-3 but at the same time she helped Pune narrow the lead by one point (14-15).
The crowd then saw entertaining tennis in the men’s doubles game. But it was a big day for local hero Saketh Myneni, who grew up learning tennis here. Slow to start, the strong-serving Myneni and Baghdatis played solidly to flatten Youzhny and the left-handed Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. The men’s doubles match also went into a tie-break. Both Baghdatis and Myneni served strongly to win 6-5, as the overall score levelled at 20-20.
The excitement reached its crescendo in the deciding men’s singles. But Baghdatis broke Youzhny in the third game and had a good chance to keep the lead. Youzhny broke Baghdatis in the tenth game to level it at 5-5. However, in the tie-break, Baghdatis cruised home 5-2.
Delhi Beat Mumbai
New Delhi: Delhi Dreams outplayed Mumbai Tennis Masters 27-19 to continue their winning run. The Delhi outfit had also won their opening tie against Punjab Marshalls.
