BENGAL WIZARDS RECLAIM TOP SPOT AT THE END OF DAY 3 OF SEASON 5 OF THE TENNIS PREMIER LEAGUE

Khel Today Bureau 
Pune: The third day of season 5 of the the Tennis Premier League powered by Clear (TPL) witnessed hotly contested matches which featured blockbuster action.

The first fixture of Day 3 of season 5 of Tennis Premier League was kicked -off with Punjab Patriots going up against Gujarat Panthers. Conny Perrin of the Punjab Patriots clashed with Ekaterina Yashina of the Gujarat Panthers in the Women’s Single Category. The game ended in a 10-all draw. Digvijay Pratap Singh of the Punjab Patriots lost to Sumit Nagal of the Gujarat Panthers 7-13 in the Men’s Singles Category. Conny Perrin and Arjun Khade of the Punjab Patriots beat Ekaterina Yashina and Mukund Sashikumar of the Gujarat Panthers in the Mixed Doubles category as the game ended 11-9. The final game of the match was the Men’s Doubles Category, in which Digvijay Pratap Singh and Arjun Khade of the Punjab Patriots took on Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sashikumar of the Gujarat Panthers. The game ended 9-11 in favour of the Gujarat Panthers. The Panthers emerged victorious from the match as it ended 37-43 in their favour. Sumit Nagal was adjudged to be the best player of the match as he led the charge for the Gujarat Panthers.

The second fixture of Day 3 saw the Mumbai Leon Army clash with the Hyderabad Strikers. The Co-owner of the Hyderabad Strikers, Rakul Preet Singh was present in the dugout cheering her team on. Sowjanya Bavisetti of Mumbai Leon Army lost to Ellen Perez of Hyderabad Strikers, 9-11, in the Women’s Singles Category. In the Men’s Singles Category, Ernest Gulbis of the Mumbai Leon Army beat Niki Poonacha of Hyderabad Strikers, as the scores at the end of the match read 11-9. Sowjanya Bavisetti and Vijay Sundar Prashanth of the Mumbai Leon Army drew with Ellen Perez and Saketh Myneni of the Hyderabad Strikers, in a 10-all draw in the Mixed Doubles category. Ernest Gulbis and Vijay Sundar Prashanth of Mumbai Leon Army beat Saketh Myneni and Niki Poonacha of Hyderabad Strikers, in the Men’s Doubles Category which was a closely contested affair that ended 11-9. Mumbai Leon Army edged past the Hyderabad Strikers as the match ended 41-39 in favour of the Mumbai team. Vijay Sundar Prashanth was awarded the player of the match for his brilliant performance in the Doubles.

The second last fixture of Day 3 was between the Pune Jaguars and the Bengal Wizards. The match started with the Women’s Singles Category, in which Diana Marcinkevica of Pune Jaguars lost to Maria Timofeeva from Bengal Wizards, in a clash that ended 7-13. Lukas Rosol of Pune Jaguars and Sriram Balaji of the Bengal Wizards went head-to-head in an entertaining Men’s Singles game that ended 11-9 in favour of the Czech Ace. It was followed by the Mixed Doubles game that saw Diana Marcinkevica and Rithvik Bollipalli of the Pune Jaguars lose convincingly to Maria Timofeeva and Anirudh Chandrasekar of the Bengal Wizards which ended 6-14. In the Men’s Doubles Category, Rithvik Bollipalli and Lukas Rosol of the Pune Jaguar took on Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar of the Bengal Wizards. The Bengal Wizards duo came out on top with a score of 9-11. Bengal Wizards won the match, as it ended 33-47 in their favour. Anirudh Chandrasekar of the Bengal Wizards was awarded the player of the match award.

The last fixture of the day saw Delhi Binny’s Brigade go head-to-head against Bengaluru SG Mavericks. In the Women’s Singles, Sahaja Yamalapalli of Delhi Binny’s Brigade lost to Arina Rodionova of Bengaluru SG Mavericks, 6-14. In the Men’s Singles Category, Dennis Novak of Delhi Binny’s Brigade defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan of the Bengaluru SG Mavericks, which ended 11-9. Sahaja Yamalapalli and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of the Delhi Binny’s Brigade took on Arina Rodionova and Vishnu Vardhan from Bengaluru SG Mavericks in the Mixed Doubles category. The game ended 10-all as neither team came out on top. In the final game of Day 3, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Dennis Novak of Delhi Binny’s Brigade went up against Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vishnu Vardhan from Bengaluru SG Mavericks in the Men’s Doubles Category. The game ended in a 9-11, in favour of the Mavericks. The Bengakur SG Mavericks came out on top in the match after it ended 36-44. Ramkumar Ramanathan won the player of the match award for his performance for Bengaluru.

On Day 3 of the fourth season of Tennis Premier League spectators inside the stadiums and at home witnessed some enthralling clashes on the magnificent court of the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. Bengal Wizards re-took the top spot in the table after they closed out Day 3 with 129 points. Bengaluru SG Mavericks sat second in the tabel with 127 points. After an excellent Day 3, the Gujarat Panthers sat third in the league table with 123 points, and were closely followed by the Punjab Patriots in the fourth spot with 121 points. The Mumbai Leon Army and Hyderabad Strikers sat 5th and 6th respectively as both teams had amassed 119 points over the first three days of Season 5 of the Tennis Premier League. Delhi Binny’s Brigade sat seventh with 115 points, while the Pune Jaguars remained eight with 107 points.

All the action from the Tennis Premier League being held at Balewadi Stadium can be witnessed live on SONY TEN 2 channels and the OTT platform SonyLIV starting from 4.30pm on the 15th of December 2023.