Hingis stars as Hyderabad Aces defeat V Chennai Warriors
An impressive performance from Swiss Miss Martina Hingis guided Hyderabad Aces to a 25-16 victory in their first match against V Chennai Warriors in the Champions Tennis League (CTL) 2015 on Wednesday. Hingis won both the singles and mixed doubles tie, in which she partnered Ivo Karlovic at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai.
In the CTL format, the final result is decided upon the basis of the aggregate score of the five-match tie. The five matches are in the category of Legends (Singles), Mixed Doubles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles and Men's Singles. Each tie also consists of five sets.
In the legends’ tie, Thomas Johansson defeated Rainer Schuettler 5-4 to give Hyderabad Aces a good start to the match.
Martina Hingis, who had an amazing season with Sania Mirza in the international stage, continued her form into the CTL by registering a 5-3 victory over Heather Watson of V Chennai Warriors. Going into the mixed doubles tie, Hyderabad Aces were leading the match 10-7.
Hingis partnered Ivo Karlovic to dispatch Fernando Verdasco and Heather Watson 5-2 in the mixed doubles tie to increase the lead of Hyderabad to six.
Rain also paid a visit to the match during the men’s doubles tie between Fernando Verdasco/Vishnu Vardhan and Ivo Karlovic/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. When the match got underway after the rain break, Hyderabad Aces duo Ivo Karlovic and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan finished off V Chennai Warriors' hopes of making a comeback by winning the tie 5-3. Hyderabad Aces confirmed their victory with an eight point lead, with only the men’s singles tie to be played.
In the dead rubber, Ivo Karlovic defeated Fernando Verdasco 5-4 to round off a complete victory for the Aces. The Aces dominated the match, winning all the ties and ended with an aggregate score of 25-16 to register an impressive victory.
V Chennai Warriros will now face Nagpur Orangers in their second home match tomorrow at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai. V Chennai Warriors, Hyderabad Aces and Nagpur Orangers are in the South Zone of CTL 2015.