Lopez guides Nagpur Orangers to second victory in CTL
Nagpur Orangers made it two wins in two as they beat Hyderabad Aces 22-20 in the Champions Tennis League (CTL) 2015 at the Sports Authority of Telangana State stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Feliciano Lopez turned the match in favour of Nagpur Orangers with impressive performances in the men’s singles and men’s doubles ties.
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’ singles tie, Thomas Johansson of Hyderabad defeated Nagpur's Alex Corretja 5-3 to give the hosts a winning start to the match.
The women’s singles tie between former world number ones Martina Hingis of Hyderabad and Jelena Jankovic of Nagpur was the match of the day as both players played a hard fought game. Hingis led the tie at the start to race to lead of 3-2, but Jankovic broke back and won three consecutive games to clinch the tie 5-3.
With the match level at 8-8, Hingis partnered Ivo Karlovic in the mixed doubles tie to take on Nagpur's Feliciano Lopez and Jelena Jankovic. As both sides matched each other shot for shot, the game went into a tie break. Hingis and Karlovic pulled off a 5-4 victory to restore Hyderabad’s lead in the match.
Feliciano Lopez turned the match in favour of Nagpur in the men’s doubles tie, after he partnered up with Divij Sharan to outplay Hyderabad’s Ivo Karlovic and Jeevan Neduncheziyan 5-3. Nagpur lead the match 17-16 going into the last tie of the day between Feliciano Lopez and Ivo Karlovic.
With a second win in CTL in the horizon for both the teams, Lopez and Karlovic produced an impressive display of tennis to take the tie into tie-break. Lopez held his nerve in the tie-break to clinch the match 5-4 and a victory for Nagpur.
Hyderabad Aces will now take on V Chennai Warriors in their second home match today at the Sports Authority of Telangana State stadium in Hyderabad. Hyderabad had beaten Chennai 25-16 in their opening match of CTL 2015 at Chennai.
