It's not often that one gets to see the local boy turn up for the away side. This was the case as Leander Paes faced Mumbai Tennis Masters in their Champions Tennis League tie against the Punjab Marshals at the Kalina university sports complex in Santacruz on Monday. Paes did lose however, with Mumbai beating the Marshals 29-20.
The much anticipated battle between Mumbai's Alize Cornet and Punjab's Gabriel Muruguza couldn't take place due to both players pulling out due to injury. Indian juniors Pranjala Yadlapalli and Rishika Sunkara stepped up on court and despite their set lacking the expected intensity of the big guns, they made sure the first set went into the tie-breaker with Mumbai girl Yadlapalli giving the home side the lead with a 5-1 win.
After the juniors, it was the battle of the big boys as Leander Paes went up against Sergi Bruguera in the legend singles. Bruguera was in no mood to let the crowd favourite get the better of him and took the third set into the tie-breaker only to go down 5-1.
With the tie evenly poised at 17-13 in favour of the home side with two sets to play, it was up to Paes and Somdev Devvarman to pull Punjab back into the game in the men's doubles. But things didn't go to plan as Tommy Robredo and Sri Ram Balaji blew them apart winning the game 6-3.
Robredo then smashed ace after ace in the men's singles rubber to beat Devvarman 6-3 giving the Mumbai side a deserved 29-20 win.
The clash was a dead rubber one as the fate of both teams was decided before they took to court as Delhi Dreams had booked their place as North Zone finalists. The south zone finalist will be decided in winner of the Pune Marathas vs Hyderabad Aces. adit.ganguly@dnaindia.net
Women's singles: Pranjala Yadlapalli (Mumbai) bt Rishika Sunkara (Punjab) 6-5
Mixed doubles: Pranjala Yadlapalli / Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (Mumbai) bt Rishika Sunkara and Vidit Vaghela (Punjab) 6-2
Legends singles: Leander Paes (Punjab) bt Sergi Bruguera (Mumbai) 6-5
Men's doubles: Tommy Robredo / Sriram Balaji (Mumbai) bt Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman (Punjab) 6-3
Men's singles: Tommy Robredo (Mumbai) bt Somdev Devvarman 6-4
Mumbai Tennis Masters bt Punjab Marshals 29-20
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