Champions Tennis League: Punjab Marshalls starts home campaign with win over Raipur

Elina Svitolina of Punjab Marshalls in action during the match against Raipur Rangers at CLTA in Sector 10, Chandigarh on Friday. (Source: Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)

It was the third match of the tie and the Punjab Marshalls duo of Marcos Baghtatis and Elina Svitolina were leading by 16-7 in the match and 4-4 in the tie-break in the mixed doubles match against Raipur Rangers duo of Roberto Agut and Alize Cornet. Marshalls captain Greg Rusedski had the option to use the super point and win the set but the former British professional did not opt for the super point. Marshalls lost the mixed doubles tie but it was a superlative performance earlier by world number 19 Elina Svitolina against world number 42 Alize Kornet in the singles’ match followed by the doubles’ win by Baghdatis and Saketh Mayneni which also set up Punjab Marshalls’ 23-15 win over Raipur Rangers in their first home match in the Champions Tennis League at CLTA Stadium, Sector 10, on Friday.

“It’s good to break the home jinx and to win a match at our home stadium. Elena played superbly against Alize and we had two match points in the mixed doubles match. But Marcos suggested to me that we should use the super point later. It paid off for us later in the match and we are happy that we won the match with a difference of eight points. Later, Marcos and Saketh put us in a good position and it was good to start the home matches with a win,” said Punjab Marshalls’ captain Greg Rusedski after the win.

Rusedski won the first match of the tie 5-2 against former French open champion Thomas Muster, but it was Elena who strengthened the team’s position in the match with an emphatic 5-1 win over Alize Cornet in the second match of the tie. With the crowd behind her, Elina played with patience and made Cornet play on the baseline and foxed her with her slow shots.

After Elina-Baghdatis lost the mixed doubles 4-5 to Agut-Cornet, Baghdatis-Mayneni won the doubles encounter against Agut-R Ramanathan 5-2 to put Marshalls ahead by 19-10 in the match.

“It was good to win against Alize. I was serving well and played well close to the net. Playing with patience is the key to win against her as she chases the ball very well and is good on her forehand. My serve helped me and playing close to the baseline also helped me. Greg and Marcos also keep discussing points with us and it helps the team a lot,” said Elena who hails from Ukraine.

Even though Baghdatis lost the last singles match 3-5 against Agut, the Cypus player won the super tie-breaker to win the mandatory singles tie in the match. “It’s always tough to play the last singles tie in the match. I did not play the league last year, so I have to adjust my game according to that. Agut was playing well in the singles match but I knew that I could win the super tie-breaker.

Saketh too played well in the doubles and we will look for a win against Mumbai at home too,” said Baghdatis.