Marcos Baghdatis seals Rendezvous Pune Marathas' final berth

The decibel levels at Pune’s Balewadi Stadium on Monday sealed the carnival-like atmosphere. Hyderabad Aces’ five-time Grand slam champion Martina Hingis was up against Rendezvous Pune Marathas’ Polish world number six Agnieszka Radwanska. And the script of the contest probably just had everything the boisterous crowd would have wanted.

Hingis in full flow

34-year-old Hingis, who hasn’t been at her best form in the Champions Tennis League so far, seized the early initiative, breaking Radwanska’s serve in the fourth game to rattle up a 3-1 lead. Egged on by the strong home crowd, Radwanska roared back into contention breaking Hingis in the next game and went on to held her serve to even things up at 3-3.

Martina Hingis defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the women’s singles

The fightback mounted by Radwanska only enhanced the resolve of Hingis, who raised her game by a few more notches. The Swiss girl broke Radwanska’s serve in the eight game to open up a 5-3 lead.

Radwanska refused to capitulate and breached Hingis’ serve in the next game to make the scoreline 4-5, to raise the prospects of a mouth-watering finish to the set. But the 25-year-old only poured cold water on her and her team’s hopes, dropping her serve in the tenth game to concede the set at 4-6, giving Hyderabad Aces a handy 15-13 lead at the end of the third set.

Hingis’s remarkable effort in the singles was also an opportunity to redeem herself as she dropped her serve twice in the mixed doubles while teaming up with Mikhail Youzhny. It proved crucial in the Hyderabad Aces loss in the second set of 3-6.

If Hyderabad Aces thought they were in for a smooth ride from there on, there were mistaken as Rendezvous Pune Marathas’ men’s doubles pair of Marcos Baghdatis and Saketh Myneni, pumped up by the robust home crowd support, waged a grim battle against Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Mikhail Youzhny.

Marcos Baghdatis and Saketh Myneni won the men’s doubles

Saketh Myneni digs deep

However, Rendezvous Pune Marathas were in more than a spot of bother when Myneni trailed 0-40 on his serve in the fifth game. But the talented Indian youngster exuded remarkable composure to win it to help the Pune outfit take a 3-2 lead.

There was an extra spring in the strides of Rendezvous Pune Marathas as they breached Mikhail Youzhny’s serve to race away to a 4-2 lead, before closing the set at 6-4 as the Pune side took a slender 19-18 lead going into the final men’s singles.

Marcos Baghdatis with team mates after winning the deciding men’ singles set

Pulsating deciding set

Final Set Finisher’ Marcos Baghdatis lived up to his new-found reputation as he broke Youzhny in the opening as well as in the third game and served solidly to sew up a 4-0 lead. However, the former world number eight surprisingly suffered a lapse in concentration, dropping his serve in the eight and tenth games, extending the contest into tie-break as the scoreline read 24-24.

Mikhail Youzhny, who seemed to have been fighting for a lost cause, won the tie-break 5-0, but in the super tie-break, it was Baghdatis who pulled through 5-3, chalking up his fourth consecutive singles win in the CTL in the process, that propelled Rendezvous Pune Marathas into the final, where they face Ironkill Delhi Dreams on Wednesday.

Earlier, in an all-Australian battle, Mark Philippoussis gave Hyderabad Aces a whirlwind start, prevailing over his former coach and 1987 Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash 6-3.

Cash seemed more like the ‘local favourite’ in the legends set even as chants of ‘Come on Cash’ reverberated across the stadium. The 49-year-old Australian – easily the most senior among all legend players – enjoyed himself under the lights, even breaking into a jig much to the elation of the home crowd.

The flashes of his serve and volley prowess came to the fore, but the ‘Scud’, with his all-too familiar booming serves, proved too much to handle for Cash.

Originally published on the CTL website here.