Hyderabad Strikers rally to down Bengaluru Spartans

Hyderabad Strikers’ Vishnu Vardhan and Karman Kaur

The overall team strength of Hyderabad Strikers held them in good stead as they overturned an early deficit to put it across Bengaluru Spartans 42-38 for their second victory in the league stage of the Tennis Premier League at the Celebration Club, here on Wednesday.

Late on Tuesday, the Hyderabad outfit had outplayed Rajasthan Panthers 49-31. It was also Bengaluru's second loss, having lost to the Mumbai Leon Army 39-41 on Tuesday. Pune Jaguars also continued their winning form with a 46-34 win over Rajasthan Panthers, for whom it the second league stage loss.

Karman Kaur gave Hyderabad Strikers a winning start, scoring over the higher ranked Uzbek Sabina Sharipova 11-9. However, Bengaluru came roaring back through N Sriram Balaji, who served big and volleyed well against Arjun Kadhe, jumping to a 7-0 lead before winning 14-6, to give them a sizeable lead. It was here that the team strength of Hyderabad came into play, with Vishnu Vardhan joining Karman for a 11-9 win over Jeevan N and Sharipova to cut the lead.

With the advantage still with Bengaluru, Hyderabad needed a big win in the deciding men's doubles and Vishnu and Kadhe did exactly that, both using their big serves and sharp net coverage to advantage, winning 14-6 over Bala and Jeevan to seal the tie.

Rutuja was once again in good form for Pune Jaguars, winning the opening singles 11-9 over Rajasthan's Latvian player Diana Marcinkevica.

Saketh Myneni continued the momentum with a 12-8 victory over Aryan Goveas and then they won the mixed doubles and men's doubles 12-8 and 11-9 respectively for a comfortable victory.