World Tennis League: Eagles soar on Badosa's wings

Bengaluru: The wreckage that Paula Badosa started was ended by team-mate Sumit Nagal for AOS Eagles as the team, led by Frenchman Gael Monfils, scored a dominating 25-13 win over Aussie Mavericks Kites on the second day of the World Tennis League here. 

Badosa, the world No. 25 Spaniard, was at her powerful best, taking No. 26 Marta Kostyuk by surprise in the former's dominating 6-1 win in the opening tie. 

Sending down fiery serves and thunderous forehand winners, Badosa showed little mercy in walloping past her opponent under the winter Bengaluru sun at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium. 

Partnering Monfils for the mixed doubles tie, Badosa once again did most of the heavy lifting to carry the duo past Kites' Kostyuk and Dhakshineshwar Suresh. Though the Indo-Ukraine pair put up a fight, the onslaught was too much in the end as Monfils and Badosa comfortably wrapped up the second tie 6-3. 

The leader of the pack Nick Kyrgios was expected to stage a resurgence for the Kites when he teamed up with Suresh for the men's doubles tie. However, the maverick Aussie, who was not looking his physical best and having already pulled out of the mixed doubles tie, could do little to inspire the Kites as Monfils and partner Nagal sprinted away to the finish line 6-3. This further widened the gap in the total points earned which read 17-7 in favour of the Eagles by the end of the third tie.  

With an overall win already out of reach, Kites' Suresh took on his more experienced compatriot Nagal in the fourth and final tie that turned out to be a close contest unlike the one-sided affairs until then. 

India's no. 1 male singles player Nagal was troubled by Suresh's big serves and groundstrokes. Using the energy of the cheering home crowd, Nagal stretched his younger compatriot to the corners of the court, changed the pace of play to eventually escape with a 7-6 victory. 

While Eagles have won both their opening two encounters, Kites have suffered two losses and could be out of the race for a final spot with one last match remaining on Friday. 

Medvedev's Falcons win

A break of serve in the seventh game was enough for Game Changers Falcons' Daniil Medvedev, the biggest star in fray here, to overcome VB Realty Hawks' Denis Shapovalov 6-4 and take his team across the line with a 20-16 victory. 

Former world No. 1 and 2021 US Open champion Medvedev's fourth tie win came after his team-mate Magda Linette lost the opener to Hawks' Elina Svitolina. However, recently-retired Indian doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna partnered with Linette and Medvedev to clinch both the doubles ties that gave the Russian an edge to close out the deciding contest. 

Results: AOS Eagles bt Aussie Mavericks Kites 25-13 (Paula Badosa bt Marta Kostyuk 6-1; Gael Monfils/ Badosa bt Dhakshineshwar Suresh/ Kostyuk 6-3; Monfils/ Sumit Nagal bt Nick Kyrgios/ Suresh 6-3; Nagal bt Suresh 7-6). 

Game Changers Falcons bt VB Realty Hawks 20-16 (Magda Linette lt to Elina Svitolina 2-6; Rohan Bopanna/ Linette bt Yuki Bhambri/ Maaya Revathi 6-3; Bopanna/ Medvedev bt Denis Shapovalov/ Bhambri 6-3; Medvedev bt Shapovalov 6-4).