Suresh holds nerve as India's Kites edge Eagles to win World Tennis League title

Bengaluru: By the time Eagles' Sumit Nagal took on compatriot Dhakshineswar Suresh of the Kites, the latters' team were ahead 15-13 in total points. In what has turned out to be a week that Suresh will long remember, the 25-year-old made it more memorable by defending his team's slender lead and winning 7-6 over Nagal to help the Kites finish as champions of the fourth edition of the World Tennis League here on Saturday. 

Playing his third tie of the evening at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium, Suresh began confidently against a determined Nagal who threatened to take the men's singles to overtime. With each competitor holding all their service games, the match needed a tie-breaker to decide the eventual winner. 

With fortunes swinging, Suresh's big serve came to his rescue in the dying moments to help the Tamil Nadu lad win the tie-breaker 7-5 to hand Kites their maiden title at the tournament. 

Similar to their slow start to the campaign here -- with two loses and a win only in the third round robin match -- the final script for the Kites also had fortunes fluctuating. It was in the third tie, the men's doubles, that the momentum shifted towards the Kites. Leader Nick Kyrgios, who enrolled to play just one of the four matches, partnered Suresh and used all his saved energy to score a 6-3 win over Eagles' Gael Monfils and Nagal.  

Earlier, there was no Paula Badosa, the top international female player for the Eagles, playing at the final of the four-day event. The onus of leading charge had fallen on India’s no. 2 singles specialist Shrivalli Bhamidipaty.

The Hyderabad girl, taking to court for the first tie against Kites' Marta Kostyuk, had one set to impress the almost full stadium. Shrivalli (ranked 348 in the world) embraced the occasion and dazzled by serving deep, returning solid, packing a punch in her groundstrokes to push the world No. 26 Kostyuk to the brink. However, the Ukrainian channeled her frustration in the right direction and managed to break Shrivalli in the 10th game to wriggle herself out for a 6-4 victory. 

In the mixed doubles, Srivalli paired with the leader of their team Monfils combined well to secure a 6-3 over Suresh and Kostyuk. The win saw Eagles take a slender 10-9 lead at the end of two ties. That tiny advantage was surpassed before the Kites glided past in the last two ties to finish in style. 

Results: Final: Aussie Mavericks Kites: 22 bt AOS Eagles: 19 (Marta Kostyuk bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 6-4; Dhakshineswar Suresh/ Kostyuk lt to Gael Monfils/ Shrivalli 3-6; Nick Kyrgios/ Suresh bt Monfils/ Sumit Nagal 6-3; Suresh bt Nagal 7-6).