Tennis Premier League, Season 4: Hyderabad Strikers qualifies for semis, Chennai Stallions beats Pune Jaguars

Hyderabad Strikers beat Gujarat Panthers 44-36 to stay on top of the table with 174 points and qualify in style for the semifinals.

FILE PHOTO: Niki Poonacha.

Hyderabad Strikers beat Gujarat Panthers 44-36 thanks to the splendid performance by Niki Poonacha and Sriram Balaji in the Tennis Premier League at the Balewadi Stadium on Saturday. The team stayed on top of the table with 174 points and qualified in style for the semifinals.

Ekaterina Kazionova was in fine form as she helped Chennai Stallions to a 47-33 victory over Pune Jaguars.

Ekaterina won her singles match against Rutuja Bhosale 13-7 and joined with Anirudh Chandrashekhar to beat Rutuja and Vijay Sundar Prashanth 12-8 in mixed doubles. With Mathias Bourgue winning the match against Arjun Kadhe, Chennai jumped to the second spot on the leaderboard before the last league match between Mumbai Leon Army and Bengaluru Spartans.

Bengaluru had the disadvantage of losing Karman Thandi owing to fitness issues, but the young Vaishnavi Adkar played her part with aplomb. Bengaluru needed 34 points and Mumbai 35 to make the semifinals. In the event, Mumbai beat Bangalore 42-38, as both the teams made the cut.

In the semifinals on Sunday, Hyderabad will meet Chennai, while Bangalore (166) and Mumbai (169) will clash yet again. The final will also be later in the evening.

RESULTS

Mumbai Leon Army bt Bangalore Spartans 42-38 (Valeriya Strakhova bt Vaishnavi Adkar 14-6; Ramkumar Ramanathan lost to Sidharth Rawat 7-13; Valeriya & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan tied with Vishnu & Vaishnavi 10-10; Ramkumar & Jeevan bt Vishnu & Sidharth 11-9).

Chennai Stallions bt Pune Jaguars 47-33 (Ekaterina Kazionova bt Rutuja Bhosale 13-7; Mathias Bourgue bt Arjun Kadhe 12-8; Kazionova & Anirudh Chandrashekhar bt Rutuja & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 12-8; Bourgue & Anirudh tied with Arjun & Vijay 10-10). Delhi Binny’s Brigade bt Punjab Tigers 43-37 (Sowjanya Bavisetti tied with Diana Marcinkevica 10-10; Mohamed Dougaz lost to Denis Istomin 9-11; Siddhant Banthia & Sowjanya bt Diana & Malek Jaziri 12-8; Siddhant & Dougaz bt Istomin & Jaziri 12-8). Hyderabad Strikers bt Gujarat Panthers 44-36 (Conny Perrin tied with Ankita Raina 10-10; Niki Poonacha bt Manish Sureshkumar 11-9; Conny & Sriram Balaji tied with Ankita & Parikshit Somani 10-10; Niki & Balaji bt Manish & Parikshit 13-7).