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New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS)
Delhi extended their impressive start to the inaugural Champions Tennis League (CTL), winning their second consecutive tie against Mumbai Tennis Masters 27-19 in a group encounter at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) here Tuesday. Delhi took an early lead as Juan Carlos Ferrero got the better of Sergi Bruguera 6-2 in the legends match and maintained their supremacy in the mixed doubles contest, winning it by an identical margin.
Mumbai pulled a match back in the contest, with Alize Cornet winning the women's singles match 6-3.
But Delhi restored their advantage in the men's doubles match, Kevin Anderson and Sanam Singh beating Tommy Robredo and Sriram Balaji 6-3.
Mumbai trailed the hosts Delhi 13-21 going into the final match of the tie and needed a big effort from Tommy Robredo against Kevin Anderson in the men's singles contest. But despite his best efforts, saw the match end 6-6 to hand Delhi the tie.
In the legends match, Bruguera was broken in the very first game of the tie, helping Ferrero take a 2-0 lead. Ferrero stretched that lead to 4-1, breaking Bruguera again. Too many unforced errors proved to be the reason for Bruguera's loss as he eventually went down 2-6 in 22 minutes.
Delhi maintained the pressure on Mumbai in the next match. They again took an early lead with the mixed doubles pair of Kevin Anderson and Jelena Jankovic going up 4-1 against Tommy Robredo and Alize Cornet and comfortably closed down the match from there, winning 6-2.
Mumbai had a glimmer of hope to stage a comeback into the contest in the women's singles match with Alize Cornet breaking Jankovic's serve twice to lead 5-1. Jelena reduced the margin to 3-5 but Cornet managed to hold on, winning 6-3.
But Delhi quickly doused mounting hopes of a Mumbai comeback, claiming the men's doubles match. The Delhi pair Kevin Anderson-Sanam Singh broke Tommey Robredo-Sriram Balaji twice to win the match 6-3.
Mumbai needed a big-margin victory from Tommy Robredo in the men's singles contest against Kevin Anderson and established a 4-2 lead. The competition got intense and Anderson managed to execute a terrific turnaround to square it at 5-5. The match stretched to the tie-breaker where Robredo won 5-3. But according to the tournament rules, the winner of the last match, the men's singles, must have a two game gap to win the contest. But Anderson didn't provide him with any scope, winning his service game to end the contest 6-6, thus handing his team a second successive win in the tournament.
