Aditya Khanna and Rohan Srivastava combined brilliantly to pull of a coup in the climax for Grip N Rip against the star-studded Proveri Supersmashers, with a 28-25 victory in the inaugural match of the second edition of Pro Tennis League here on Friday.
In a combination of ex-professional and a junior, Aditya and Rohan won 6-1 against Ashish Khanna and Ashish Sinha after the team was two points behind, before the last rubber.
Memorable win
Supersmashers had won three of the first five matches through Daria Mishina of Russia, Ramkumar Ramanathan and the doubles rubber with Ramkumar and Arjun Kadhe, but Aditya competed fiercely, hitting his top-spin drives with a touch of assurance to inspire a memorable win.
Vishnu Vardhan and Prerna Bhambri had won the mixed doubles 6-2 against Daria Mishina and Arjun Kadhe, which paved the way for Grip N Rip, which latter fought well through Vishnu and Ranjeet in the men’s doubles.
Setting the tone
National under-16 champion Karan Singh had set the tone by winning the first singles for Grip N Rip.
In the other league match of the day, Haryana Sapphires proved too strong in racing past Sankara Aces 31-20, after having led 28-14 before the last rubber.
The league was inaugurated by the ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar earlier in the afternoon.
The results (league): Grip N Rip bt Proveri Supersmashers 28-25 (Karan Singh bt Karan Srivastava 6-4; Prerna Bhambri lost to Daria Mishina 3-6; Vishnu Vardhan & Prerna bt Daria & Arjun Kadhe 6-2; V.M. Ranjeet lost to Ramkumar Ramanathan 3-6; Vishnu & Ranjeet lost to Ramkumar & Arjun 4-6; Aditya Khanna & Rohan Srivastav bt Ashish Khanna & Ashish Sinha 6-1).
Haryana Sapphires bt Sankara Aces 31-20 (Uddayvir Singh bt Bikramjeet Chawla 6-0; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Anna Morgina 6-1; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Sowjanya bt Morgina & Kunal Anand 6-2; Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Sriram Balaji 6-5(6); Vijay Sundar & Jeevan lost to Kunal & Sriram 4-6; Arjun Uppal & Garvit Gupta lost to Vivek Shokeen & Vansh Kapoor 3-6).
