CTL: Giant-serving Ivo Karlovic helps Hyderabad Aces outplay Chennai Warriors

Chennai: Giant-serving Croatian player Ivo Karlovic and doubles ace Martina Hingis played stellar roles in Hyderabad Aces' impressive 25-16 win over Chennai Warriors on the third day of the Champions Tennis League, here on Wednesday.

Karlovic, standing 6 feet 11 inches tall, helped his side win three matches he featured in -- men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.

Former Swedish professional and Aces captain Thomas Johannson's 5-4 win over retired German player Rainer Schuettler set the ball rolling for the visitors as they handed Chennai a loss on home turf.

Swiss ace Hingis also made it count for the Aces after playing her part in the women's singles and Mixed doubles.

Hingis served past Heather Watson of Britain 5-3 and then combined with Karlovic to outplay her British counterpart and Spanish ace Fernando Verdasco 5-2.

Karlovic, streaming down his aces like rocks, continued his team's dominance as he partnered with India's Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan to outplay Verdasco and Vishnu Vardhan (India) 5-3.

Though the final game and set seemed a mere formality but the match-up between Karlovic and Verdasco made up for interesting tennis.

With stars retaining their respective serves, the set remained tied at 4-4 before going into a tie-break.

Karlovic also held his serve four times in the tie-breaker, but did manage to break Verdasco's serve once to steal the set and match 4-3.

Still not pleased with the overall tennis played by the Aces, captain Thomas said he wanted a better showing from his teammates next time around.

"I was not satisfied with the performance of some of my players. But Martina was good in her singles outing and also in the mixed doubles. Though it's always good to win a match," the Swede said after the win.