CTL: Nagpur Orangers win tense affair against Chennai Warriors

Chennai: Feliciano Lopez of Nagpur Orangers held his nerve to beat Fernando Verdasco of V Chennai Warriors, securing a slender 24-23 win for the visitors in the Champions Tennis League (CTL) here on Thursday.

The final match of the Chennai leg was the battle between Spaniards, Lopez and Verdasco, in the men's singles and it went right down to the wire.

Verdasco broke his compatriot to make it 3-2 and that cushion was enough for him to win the set 5-3 for Chennai, taking the match into super tie-breaker after Nagpur had won four sets in a row.

With Chennai trailing Nagpur 20-23, Verdasco had to win three games in a row to take the match into super over-time and he did just that.

Lopez, however, managed to hold his nerve to win the super over time 5 points to 4 to secure the match.

Earlier, Spain's Alex Corretja, making his CTL debut, beat Rainer Schuettler of Germany 5-4 via tie-break in the opening legend's singles, giving Nagpur the early lead.

The women's singles was between former world number one Jelena Jankovic and Heather Watson. Jankovic of Serbia edged the 23-year-old from Britain in what was another tie-break, 5-4, to double Nagpur's advantage.

Next up was the mixed doubles clash with Jankovic and Lopez taking on Watson and Verdasco. Nagpur extended their lead with the Serb-Spanish combine winning the set 5-3.

Indian players were in action in men's doubles with Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan teaming up with Lopez and Verdasco respectively. Nagpur came out on top yet again, winning the tie-break 5-4 to seal their fourth set in a row.