Hyderabad Aces dealt a big blow to Bangalore Raptors' chances of advancing to the final of the Champions Tennis League after the visitors registered a 25-22 win in a thrilling group match in Bengaluru.
Bangalore had a chance to win the tie in the deciding rubber, but Hyderabad's Mikhail Youzhny poured cold water on the hopes of the hosts by defeating Feliciano Lopez in 'super overtime' which was forced upon the players as the overall points of the teams were on par.
The winner of the 'super overtime' gets bonus points and hence the tie ended with Hyderabad ousting Bangalore 25-22 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Stadium late on Friday night.
Youzhny teamed up with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan to defeat Lopez and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-5 (5-3) in the men's doubles as the Aces took a 21-16 lead.
Earlier, Impressive wins by Mark Philippoussis and Martina Hingis in their singles matches helped Hyderabad Aces take a 15-11 lead over Bangalore Raptors at the end of the third match.
Australian Mark Philippoussis beat Bangalore's Thomas Enqvist 6-4 in the legend's singles before home team's mixed doubles pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Martina Hingis - lost to power-packed combination of Venus Williams and Feliciano Lopez.
Losing the mixed doubles to Bangalore, it put Hyderabad at par and it all depended on Hingis to bring the visitors into the reckoning after she decimated the former World No 1 Venus 6-1 as the American looked tired and out of sorts, playing immediately after the mixed doubles.
After losing the first singles match, Bangalore pair Venus Williams and Feliciano Lopez, came back strongly trouncing the combination of Mikhail Youzhny and Martina Hingis, in the mixed doubles encounter, with 6-3 margin.
Hyderabad are leading the South Zone with 77 points while Banaglore are on second on 71 and both the teams have one match left to play. The third team in South Zone, Pune Marathas have 51 points but they have two matches in hand.
Only the group topper from a zone makes it to the final to be held on November 26.
