Mumbai, Dec 18 (IANS): Hyderabad Strikers and Mumbai Leon Army entered the final of the Tennis Premier League, scoring narrow, identical 42-38 victories over Chennai Stallions and defending champions Pune Jaguars respectively in the semi-finals at the Celebration Club, here, on Saturday. Interestingly, both the matches were tied 30-30 after three rubbers and it was the men's doubles that decided both outcomes.
Karman Kaur once again gave the Strikers a positive start, edging past Samantha Sharan 11-9, also avenging her defeat to the Brit in the league stage. With a final berth at stake, both players made shaky starts to the game, but it was Karman's bigger serve that held her in good stead. The lead changed hands a couple of times before Karman took control and closed out the match.
Siddharth, unbeaten in the tournament, looked on course to give the Stallions the advantage when he raced to an 8-4 lead against Arjun Kadhe. However, a couple of loose shots from Rawat gave Kadhe a chance to narrow the lead and he then came up with some sharp net play when trailing 8-10 to level the scores at 10-10.
Purav Raja and Samantha once again showed their doubles prowess when they beat Vishnu Vardhan and Karman 11-9 to level the match at 30-30 after 3 rubbers, but the final men's doubles was a bit of a letdown for the Stallions as the stronger pairing of Vardhan and Kadhe ran away with the game. Opening up a 7-1 lead, they were never threatened and once they reached 11, the match was settled. The Strikers finally won the doubles 12-8 and the match 42-38.
After Rutuja Bhosle and Sowjanya Bavisetti played a 10-10 tie in the openi'g women's singles of the second semis, Ramkumar raced to an 8-2 lead against Saketh raising hopes of a big lead for Mumbai. But Saketh dug deep, making his big serves count. He also attacked Ramkumar's serve and won seven points on the trot to lead 9-8. However, Ramkumar responded with an ace and a wide serve to wrest back the lead at 10-9, before Myneni served an ace of his own to tie 10-10.
After the mixed doubles also ended 10-10, it was Poonacha and Ramkumar proved the stronger pair in the men's doubles, winning 12-8 to seal the tie.
Results (Semis):
Hyderabad Strikers bt Chennai Stallions
(Karman Kaur bt Samantha Sharan 11-9; Arjun Kadhe tied with Siddharth Rawat 10-10; Vishnu/Karman lost to Purav Raja/Samantha 9-11; Vishnu/Kadhe bt Raja/Rawat).
Mumbai Leon Army Pune Jaguars (Sowjanya Bavisetti tied with Rutuja Bhosle 10-10; Ramkumar R tied with Saketh M 10-10; Sowjanya/Niki Poonacha tied with Ishaque Eqbal/Rutuja 10-10;