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Riding on spirited wins from former women's world number one Martina Hingis and veteran Australian player Mark Philippoussis, Hyderabad Aces defeated Bangalore Raptors by 27-25 margin to start their Champions Tennis League (CTL) campaign on a winning note in Hyderabad late on Monday.
The league format states that the team that wins more games wins the tie and not the sets.
In the first rubber, Hyderabad's Mark Phillippoussis beat Bangalore's Thomas Enqvist in the legends category 6-5 (5-2), before Hingis defeated Venus Williams 6-3 in the women's singles category to give the hosts an upper hand.
Lateer, Mikhail Youzhny combined with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan to edge past Feliciano Lopez and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3 in the men's doubles match at the Lal Bahadur Stadium.
The Lopez and Williams combine then beat Youzhny and Hingis 6-5 (5-1) in the mixed doubles category before and Lopez beat Youzhny 8-4 in the men's singles to give Bangalore a respectable score of 25.
Then came the match that the fans were awaiting -- Hingis vs Venus.
The powerful rallies and serves between the two women, who were world number one during their heydays, were a feast for the spectators.
Hingis mixed up her game, while current World No 18, Williams played an aggressive game. However, the Swiss ended triumphant.
The five set match was tied 1-1 but Hingis fought hard to claim the match 6-3.
In the legends match between Phillippoussis and Enqvist, the latter dominated the game initially with a score of 5-2, but Phillippoussis fought back brilliantly to level the scores at 5-5.
Phillippoussis, who was known to have one of the fastest serves in the game, demonstrated his remarkable skill to prevail over his opponent.
In the deciding men's singles match between Youzhny and Lopez, the latter got the better of his rival 3-6.
Since Hyderabad’s aggregate was short of absolute aggregate victory, the game was extended, which Lopez won with a 8-4 margin.
Inspite of Lopez's win, Hyderabad managed to snatch a narrow 27-25 victory in the tie.
Image: Martina Hingis plays a return against Venus Williams during their Champions Tennis League match in Hyderabad on Monday
Photograph: CTL/Twitter