Mumbai: Karman Kaur gave Hyderabad Strikers an explosive start, defeating Sowjanya Bavisetti of Mumbai Leon Army 15-5 in the opening women’s singles, to pave the way for her side’s convincing 49-31 victory in the final of the Tennis Premier League held here on Sunday.
Having played a tough semi-final against Pune Jaguars and with not enough time to recover before the final, Bavisetti was a shadow of herself against the big serving and hard-hitting Karman and conceded a huge lead early in the game, from which she could not recover.
The same was the case in the men’s singles and Ramkumar fell short against Arjun Kadhe, losing 8-12.
The 14-point deficit after the first two matches was just too much to erase, especially with Vishnu Vardhan coming in to play the mixed doubles.
Though Niki Poonacha and Sowjanya put on a fight, they too went down 9-11 and same was the case in the men’s doubles, with Ramkmuar and NIki losing 9-11 to Vishnu and Arjun.
Results (Final): Hyderabad Strikers beat Mumbai Leon Army 49-31 (Karman Kaur beat Sowjanya Bavisetti 15-5; Arjun Kadhe beat Ramkumar 12-8; Vishnu Vardhan/Karman beat Niki Poonacha/Sowjanya 11-9; Vishnu/Arjun bt Ramkumar/Niki 11-9).