Delhi Dreams down Mumbai Tennis Masters to win second straight tie

Alize Cornet plays a backhand return against Jelena Jankovic in the CTL

New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS)

Delhi extended their impressive start to the inaugural Champions Tennis League (CTL), winning their second consecutive tie against Mumbai Tennis Masters 27-19 in a group encounter at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) here Tuesday. Delhi took an early lead as Juan Carlos Ferrero got the better of Sergi Bruguera 6-2 in the legends match and maintained their supremacy in the mixed doubles contest, winning it by an identical margin.

Mumbai pulled a match back in the contest, with Alize Cornet winning the women's singles match 6-3.

But Delhi restored their advantage in the men's doubles match, Kevin Anderson and Sanam Singh beating Tommy Robredo and Sriram Balaji 6-3.

Mumbai trailed the hosts Delhi 13-21 going into the final match of the tie and needed a big effort from Tommy Robredo against Kevin Anderson in the men's singles contest. But despite his best efforts, saw the match end 6-6 to hand Delhi the tie.

In the legends match, Bruguera was broken in the very first game of the tie, helping Ferrero take a 2-0 lead. Ferrero stretched that lead to 4-1, breaking Bruguera again. Too many unforced errors proved to be the reason for Bruguera's loss as he eventually went down 2-6 in 22 minutes.

Delhi maintained the pressure on Mumbai in the next match. They again took an early lead with the mixed doubles pair of Kevin Anderson and Jelena Jankovic going up 4-1 against Tommy Robredo and Alize Cornet and comfortably closed down the match from there, winning 6-2.

Mumbai had a glimmer of hope to stage a comeback into the contest in the women's singles match with Alize Cornet breaking Jankovic's serve twice to lead 5-1. Jelena reduced the margin to 3-5 but Cornet managed to hold on, winning 6-3.

But Delhi quickly doused mounting hopes of a Mumbai comeback, claiming the men's doubles match. The Delhi pair Kevin Anderson-Sanam Singh broke Tommey Robredo-Sriram Balaji twice to win the match 6-3.

Mumbai needed a big-margin victory from Tommy Robredo in the men's singles contest against Kevin Anderson and established a 4-2 lead. The competition got intense and Anderson managed to execute a terrific turnaround to square it at 5-5. The match stretched to the tie-breaker where Robredo won 5-3. But according to the tournament rules, the winner of the last match, the men's singles, must have a two game gap to win the contest. But Anderson didn't provide him with any scope, winning his service game to end the contest 6-6, thus handing his team a second successive win in the tournament.