Nagal, Shrivalli shine as Eagles down Hawkes, set-up WTL final against Kites

Bengaluru, Dec 19 (PTI) Indian stars Sumit Nagal and Shrivalli Bhamdipaty played lead roles as Eagles downed Hawkes to set up a World Tennis League (WTL) final against Kites here on Friday.

The 22-12 win helped Eagles to swell their total points tally to 65 and Hawkes ended up with 53 points after their final set of league matches.

Later, Kites defeated Falcons 24-19 to enter the title round with a total 58 points, and the latter went out of the tournament after logging 55 points overall.

Earlier in the evening session, the lone glitch for Shrivalli was her defeat in mixed doubles, as she and Gael Monfils lost to Yuki Bhambri and Elina Svitolina 4-6.

But Hawkes did not have any more success on the day as Shrivalli made her first appearance in the WTL a memorable affair.

She returned to court for women’s singles soon and made short work of Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi 6-2.

The 24-year-old right-hander then teamed up with Paula Badosa in the women’s doubles to beat Maaya and Svitolina 6-3, as a break in the eighth game did the trick for the Eagles’ pair.

Nagal beats Shapovalov ================= This was expected to be the feature event of the evening. But the match between Nagal and world No. 23 Denis Shapovalov turned out to be a lop-sided contest, as the Canadian was struggling with a neck injury.

It was evident from the outset that Shapovalov was not in his usual self as there was no strength in his serve and ground shots. He was not even able to run to retrieve the balls properly.

Once Nagal took a 3-0 lead, the tournament authorities allowed Monfils to come in as a ‘helper’ for Shapovalov.

The Frenchman took over the serving duties from his teammate while the latter continued to execute the ground-strokes.

But the arrangement made no difference to the outcome as Nagal wrapped up an easy 6-1 victory, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

The winning moment came with Nagal’s powerful forehand cross-court winner.

"Feel so sorry for Shapo. Every athlete goes through that, but we take it (the result) for the team’s sake as every game is important in this tournament. I have known Shapo since the age of 12, as we used to train together a lot and hopefully he will get better soon," Nagal said after the match.

In the final league match, Falcons will play Kites.

Ahead of the match, veteran player Rohan Bopanna, who retired from top level tennis recently, was felicitated. Bopanna plays for Falcons in the WTL.

Suresh beats Medvedev ================= Kites’ Dhakshineswar Suresh pulled off a memorable win over former US Open champion and World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Falcons in the crucial men’s singles.

Dhakshineswar won 6-4. Entering the final tie of the league stage, Kites were leading Falcons 52-51 and a victory was essential for both to reach the final on Saturday.

Suresh used his big serves and power game effectively to oust a fabled opponent, whose double fault in the fifth game while trailing 30-40 proved crucial in the context of the game.

“I was just concentrating on my strength and happy that it has paid off. It was really good to play against Medvedev and happy to score a big for myself and the team,” said Suresh after the match.

Other results: Women’s singles: Marta Kostyuk (Kites) beat Magda Linette (Falcons) 6-4.

Mixed doubles: Dhakshineswar Suresh / Marta Kostyuk beat Rohan Bopanna / Sahaja Yamalapalli (Falcons) 6-4.

Men’s doubles: Rohan Bopanna / Daniil Medvedev (Falcons) beat Dhakshineswar Suresh / Nick Kyrigos (Kites) 7-6. PTI UNG AT UNG KHS