Pune side produced late surge to down Bangalore in super tiebreak
Pune Marathas' Agnieszka Radwanska returns to Venus Williams of Bangalore Raptors during their Champions Tennis League match in Bengaluru on Thursday. Radwanska won 6-3. (Photo: R. Samuel)
Bengaluru: A jovial atmosphere prevailed at the KSLTA notwithstanding a sparsely filled stadium as the home fans went back watching a Marcos Baghdatis-led Pune Marathas produce a late surge to down the Bangalore Raptors 25-24 (6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 5 (3) -7 (5), (1)-(5)) in the super tiebreak on Thursday.The home side had zoomed to a two set advantage before losing out to Marathas in the super tiebreak.
The Raptors did all the early running as Thomas Enqvist defeated Pat Cash 6-3 in the legends encounter, with the duo making the crowd feel part of the match by swapping headbands and giving high-fives.The two retired stars swapped breaks in the opening rounds before Enqvist took a 4-1 lead over a visibly tired Cash and eased to victory.
The Raptors picked up where they left off in the mixed doubles as Feliciano Lopez and Venus Williams powered their way past Agnieszka Radwanska and Baghdatis 6-3. The Raptors’ duo broke their opposition in the sixth game to go ahead 4-2 and held serve with Lopez showing some crafty net play to go two sets up.That was as good as it got for the home side as match went off script from thereon with Radwanska showing grit to defeat an unusually error-prone Venus 6-3 in the women’s singles.
With the momentum now with the Pune side, the Marathas clinched the men’s doubles with Baghdatis and Vizag-lad Saketh Myneni zooming past the pair of Lopez and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4.
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