Nagal, Badosa help Eagles decimate Kites in WTL

Sumit Nagal leaned on his vast experience to overcome the power game of Kites’ Dhakshineswar Suresh in the tie-break, keeping the Eagles well on course for the World Tennis League final here on Thursday. Nothing much separated Nagal and Dhakshineswar in the first 12 games of the men’s singles, as they held onto their serves easily.

Nagal relied on a consistent game — cleverly-placed serves and fine angles on ground shots to keep pace with his younger rival. On the other hand, Dhakshineswar's primary weapon was his massive serve and he followed it up with some crisp approach shots to keep the veteran under pressure.

In the tie-break, Dhakshineswar quickly worked up a 4-1 lead. But a couple of unforced errors by the 25-year-old helped Nagal to level the scores at 4-4. The 28-year-old then surged to a 6-4 lead but Dhakshineswar executed two brilliant forehand winners to make the scoreline 6-6, bringing into play the Golden Point for the first time in this edition of the WTL. Nagal won the match 7-6 after a nearly 40-minute intense tussle.

Dhakshineswar received the serve from the deuce court. He made a good return but Nagal retrieved the ball superbly and then eventually finished it with a neat forehand cross-court volley. Eagles won the day’s match emphatically 25-13, for an overall score of 43-34 as points were carried over from the previous days’ tie. However, Paula Badosa too can claim a large chunk of credit for Eagles’ easy win over Kites.

In the women’s singles, Badosa dismantled Marta Kostyuk 6-1 to give the Eagles a lightning start to the day. Paula Badosa, who looked off-colour on Wednesday, regained her range and seldom gave her opponent, a World No. 26, a chance in the match.

Her thunderous serve and ground shots were too hot to handle for Kostyuk, as it hardly looked like an exhibition match. The world No. 25 then teamed up with Gael Monfils to beat Eagles’ Dhakshineshwar and Kostyuk 6-3 in the mixed doubles.

"After a disappointing day yesterday (when she lost her singles match), I was able to come back well. I managed to improve upon my service and return today, and it helped me,” said Badosa after the match.

Later, Eagles continued their dominance in the men’s doubles as Monfils and Nagal outwitted Nick Kyrgios and Dhakshineshwar 6-3.

Medvedev keeps Falcons in hunt 

After a rather below-par outing on Wednesday, Daniil Medvedev found his flow on the day to oust Hawks’ Denis Shapavalov 6-4 — a result that kept Falcons in fray for berth in the title clash on Saturday.

Falcons have 36 points and Hawks have 41 points overall as they logged 20 and 16 points respectively from this tie. Both Medvedev and Shapavalov showcased all the tricks up their sleeve — big serves, line-licking ground-shots, precise drop shots and a few trick items like underarm serve — entertaining an adoring gathering.

After trading serves, the decisive moment in the match came in the 9th game when Medvedev affected the break, and held without any fuss in the 10th game to close out the match.

“I served better today than yesterday and I have been working on it ahead of the new season, and today it has come out well,” said Medvedev, who earlier had a meeting with Indian cricket star Shreyas Iyer.

Other results of Tie 2: Women’s Singles: Elina Svitolina (Hawks) beat Magda Linette (Falcons) 6-2.

Mixed doubles: Rohan Boappana/Magda Linette (Falcons) beat Yuki Bhambri/Maya Revathi (Hawks) 6-3.

Men’s doubles: Rohan Boappana / Daniil Medvedev (Falcons) beat Denis Shapavalov / Yuki Bhambri 6-3.