Anirudh Chandrasekar and Maria Timofeeva made the difference as they powered Bengal Wizards to a 47-33 victory over Pune Jaguars in the fifth edition of the Tennis Premier League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Thursday.
Aniurdh won his mixed doubles with Timofeeva 14-6 against Diana Marcinkevica and Rithvik Bollipalli and put the icing on the cake, by winning the doubles 11-9 with Sriram Balaji over Rithvik and Lukas Rosol.
Timofeeva had earlier given a strong start for Bengal by beating Marcinkevica 13-7 in the opening rubber, and Sriram stayed close to Rosol.
After three matches in the league, Bengal was comfortably on top with 129 points and in a strong position in the race for the semifinals with two more league matches to be played.
Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sasikumar, the top two players in the country, pulled their weight, especially in the doubles, to help Gujarat Panthers score a 43-37 win over Punjab Patriots. Sumit was particularly severe in beating Digvijay Pratap Singh 13-7. Both teams were, however, close to each other at 123 and 121 points respectively.
The results: Bengal Wizards bt Pune Jaguars 47-33 (Maria Timofeeva bt Diana Marcinkevica 13-7; Sriram Balaji lost to Lukas Rosol 9-11; Maria & Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Marcinkevica & Rithvik Bollipalli 14-6; Sriram & Anirudh bt Rithvik & Rosol 11-9).
Gujarat Panthers bt Punjab Patriots 43-37 (Ekerina Yashina tied Conny Perrin 10-10; Sumit Nagal bt Digvijay Pratap Singh 13-7; Yashina & Mukund Sasikumar lost to Perrin & Arjun Kadhe 9-11; Nagal & Mukund bt Khade & Digvijay 11-9).
Mumbai Leon Army bt Hyderabad Strikers 41-39 (Sowjanya Bavisetti lost to Ellen Perez 9-11; Ernests Gulbis bt Niki Poonacha 11-9; Sowjanya& Vijay Sundar Prashanth tied Perez & Saketh Myneni 10-10; Gulbis & Vijay Sundar bt Poonacha & Myneni 11-9).
