Ramkumar Ramanathan played his part brilliantly to help Bengaluru SG Mavericks to a 46-34 victory over Gujarat Panthers in the Tennis Premier League on the charcoal grey courts of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Friday.
Ramkumar beat the current No.1 of the country, Sumit Nagal, 14-6 in singles and later combined with Olympian Vishnu Vardhan to trump Sumit and Mukund Sasikumar 13-7 in doubles.
Vishnu also won his mixed doubles with Arina who had stumbled to a 8-12 start in the women’s singles against Ekaterina Yashina.
Bengaluru shot up to the top of the table with 173 points. It will meet Mumbai Leon Army in the last league match on Saturday.
The semifinals and the final will be played on Sunday.
Delhi Binny’s Brigade brought the overnight leader Bengal Wizards by inflicting a 45-35 defeat thanks to the final performance of Sahaja Yamalapalli, Denis Novak and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.
Bengal and Punjab teams were in second place with a total of 164 points each from their four matches.
The results:
Delhi Binny’s Brigade bt Bengal Wizards 45-35 (Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Maria Timofeeva 13-7; Dennis Novak bt Sriram Balaji 12-8; Sahaja & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan lost to Maria & Anirudh Chandrasekar 9-11; Dennis & Jeevan bt Balaji & Anirudh 11-9).
Punjab Patriots bt Mumbai Leon Army 43-37 (Conny Perrin bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 11-9; Digvijay Pratap Singh lost to Ernests Gulbis 9-11; Conny & Arjun Kadhe bt Sowjanya & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 12-8; Digvijay & Arjun bt Ernests & Vijay 11-9).
Bengaluru SG Mavericks bt Gujarat Panthers 46-34 (Arina Rodionova lost to Ekaterina Yashina 8-12; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sumit Nagal 14-6; Arina & Vishnu Vardhan bt Ekaterina & Mukund Sasikumar 11-9; Ramkumar & Vishnu bt Sumit & Mukund 13-7).
