Nagal, Shrivalli shine as eagles down hawkes to close in WTL final
Indian stars Sumit Nagal and Shrivalli Bhamdipaty played lead roles as Eagles downed Hawkes to all but seal a World Tennis League (WTL) final berth on Friday. The 22-12 win helped Eagles to swell their total points tally to 65 and Hawkes ended up with 53 points after their final set of league matches.
The lone glitch for Shrivalli on the day was her defeat in mixed doubles, as she and Gael Monfils lost to Yuki Bhambri and Elina Svitolina 4-6. But Hawkes did not have any more success on the day as Shrivalli made her first appearance in the WTL a memorable affair.
She returned to court for women’s singles soon and made short work of Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi 6-2. The 24-year-old right-hander then teamed up with Paula Badosa in the women’s doubles to beat Maaya and Svitolina 6-3, as a break in the eighth game did the trick for the Eagles’ pair.
Nagal beats Shapovalov
This was expected to be the feature event of the evening. But the match between Nagal and world number 23 Denis Shapovalov turned out to be a lop-sided contest, as the Canadian was struggling with a neck injury. It was evident from the outset that Shapovalov was not his usual self as there was no strength in his serve and ground shots. He was not even able to run to retrieve the balls properly.
Once Nagal took a 3-0 lead, the tournament authorities allowed Monfils to come in as a ‘helper’ for Shapovalov. The Frenchman took over the serving duties from his teammate while the latter continued to execute the ground-strokes. But the arrangement made no difference to the outcome as Nagal wrapped up an easy 6-1 victory, much to the disappointment of the crowd. The winning moment came with Nagal’s powerful forehand cross-court winner.
“Feel so sorry for Shapo. Every athlete goes through that, but we take it (the result) for the team’s sake as every game is important in this tournament. I have known Shapo since the age of 12, as we used to train together a lot and hopefully he will get better soon,” Nagal said after the match. In the final league match, Falcons will play Kites. Ahead of the match, veteran player Rohan Bopanna, who retired from top level tennis recently, was felicitated. Bopanna plays for Falcons in the WTL.
