Punjab Marshalls won the Champions Tennis League (CTL) 2015 title after they scored a hard-fought 22-21 victory over Hyderabad Aces in the final at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here tonight.
In a format where the winner is decided on the basis of the total number of points obtained in the five-set game, Punjab made 22 points against 21 by Hyderabad.
The five sets are Legends Singles, Women's Singles, Mixed Doubles, Men's Doubles and Men's Singles.
It was a riveting final which went down the wires with both sides putting up a competitive show in all the five sets.
The first set of the game, Legends Singles between Hyderabad's Thomas Johansson and Greg Rusedski of Punjab, was a close contest with both the seasoned players coming up with a tough fight.
A tie-breaker was thrown up with the players equalling the score at four and the Punjab player managed to clinch the game 5-4.
The next set was the eagerly-awaited contest of the day, the Women's Singles between Swiss veteran Martina Hingis (Hyderabad) and Punjab's Elina Svitolina.
The Swiss Miss, now aged 35, not only matched her rival who is in her 20s, but maintained an upper hand often.
It was a close match leading to a tie-breaker and Hingis, who has been a favourite with the tennis fans in Hyderabad, was lustily cheered by them to surge ahead.
The determined Svitolina, who has had a career best ranking of 15 in singles, however, won the set 5-4 in the end.
Hyderabad had an easy win in the next set of Mixed Doubles between Ivo Karlovic and Martina Hings (Hyderabad) and Marcos Baghdatis and Elina Svitolina (Punjab).
The seasoned Hingis and her doubles partner Karlovic, who is almost 7-ft tall, proved too big for their rivals to tame. The Hyderabad pair won the set 5-2.
