Former National champion Dalwinder Singh rode on his explosive game and a gutsy approach in the face of adversity to drive DMG Delhi Crusaders to a thrilling 29-28 victory over Sankara Aces, and into the semifinals of the Pro Tennis League here on Sunday.
Dalwinder saved match points to beat Sriram Balaji 6-5(4). This gave a marginal lead to Delhi.
In the event, Dalwinder won the doubles with Siddhant Banthia against the formidable Sriram Balaji and Kunal Anand in the tie-break.
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In the entertaining last rubber, Vivek Shokeen displayed glimpses of his high quality, partnering Bikramjeet Chawla for Sankara Aces, to survive match points with his big serves, and win tie-break against Tushar Jagota and Ajay Malik.
However, Delhi prevailed on the basis of having won one more game.
Quite interestingly, despite winning both its ties, Delhi found itself second in the group, as the rules looked at the game difference of the teams in grading them for the knock-out stage.
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In the semifinals, Delhi will play the topper of the other group, Proverii Supersmashers, spearheaded by Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Haryana Sapphires, which topped the group with a seven-game difference, despite having won only one tie, will be challenged by ARA Avengers, which came back strongly to finish second ahead of Grip N Rip in the other group.
Sidharth Rawat played a splendid all-court game in winning his singles and doubles matches for Avengers. Riya Bhatia was also in good form, outplaying Prerna Bhambri.
In the decisive sixth rubber, Saurabh Singh and Suvrat Mall were able to outclass Aditya Khanna and Rohan Srivastava 6-3, after having trailed 1-3, to put the icing on the cake for Avengers.
The results (league):ARA Avengers bt Grip N Rip 31-22 [Nishant Dabas lost to Karan Singh 4-6; Riya Bhatia bt Prerna Bhambri 6-1; Riya Bhatia & Niki Poonacha lost to Prerna Bhambri & Vishnu Vardhan 3-6; Sidharth Rawat bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-3; Niki Poonacha & Sidharth Rawat bt V.M. Ranjeet & Vishnu Vardhan 6-3; Saurabh Singh & Suvrat Mall bt Aditya Khanna & Rohan Srivastava 6-3].
DMG Delhi Crusaders bt Sankara Aces 29-28 [Kabir Hans bt Vansh Kapoor 6-0; Mahak Jain lost to Anna Morgina 4-6; Mahak Jain & Siddhant Banthia lost to Anna Morgina & Kunal Anand 2-6; Dalwinder Singh bt Sriram Balaji 6-5(3); Siddhant Banthia & Dalwinder Singh bt Sriram Balaji & Kunal Anand 6-5(4); Tushar Jagota & Ajay Malik lost to Vivek Shokeen & Bikramjeet Singh Chawla 5-6(3)] .