Hyderabad Aces reach CTL final with thrilling win over Nagpur

Nagpur: Hyderabad Aces pipped Nagpur Orangers to reach the final of the Champions Tennis League here today. Aces will meet Punjab Marshalls in the title clash to be played in Hyderabad on Sunday. Aces took the early lead after Thomas Johansson scraped past Alex Corretja 5-4 in the tie-break.

Heather Watson of Chennai Warriors plays a Women's Singles match against Jelena Jankovic of Nagpur Orangers during a Champions Tennis Leauge (CTL) in Nagpur. Pic/PTI

The much awaited match of the day was between the two former world numbers ones -- Martina Hingis of Aces taking on Jelena Jankovic. There was hardly anything separating the two until the tie-break where the Serb changed gears to win the women's singles set 5-4, leaving the overall match score at 9-9.

Both Hingis and Jankovic stayed on the court to partner Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez respectively. It was another tie-break with Aces pairing of Hingis and Karlovic winning the set 5-4. Lopez and Divij Sharan teamed up to win the men's doubles set 5-3 against Karlovic and Jeevan Neduncheziyan.

Aces led 18-17 going into the final set with Lopez and Karlovic fighting for a place in the final. The battle expectedly went into the tie-break which the big-serving Karlovic won.