Pennetta to play for Mumbai in Champions Tennis League

Mumbai, September 23 

Reigning US Open champion Flavia Pennettta will play for Mumbai Masters at this year's Champions Tennis League (CTL) along with 1996 Wimbledon men's champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands. The second edition of the CTL, the brainchild of former India Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj, is scheduled from November 23 to December 6, Amritraj announced at a media conference after the players' draft here today.

This year too the tournament will be held among six city-based franchises, out of which five — Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and new entrants Raipur and Nagpur —  have been identified.

The sixth, which is a toss-up between Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru, would be chosen within a week to 10 days, Amritraj said. The champions will win Rs 1 crore and the runners-up will get Rs 50 lakh. Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who stunned Andy Murray in the US Open, will play for the Raipur team. 

Amritraj explained that some minor changes have been made to the format of the matches.

"Last year, when we had two ties per day, most of the matches were close and play got extended up to three and a half hours or more. This time around only one tie will be held per day with a 7pm start and an expected 9:30-9:45pm end," Amritraj said.

Amritraj praises Sania

Praising Sania Mirza, Amritraj said that the Hyderabadi has been instrumental in taking tennis to the front page of the newspapers with her grand exploits on the women's circuit. “Sania has put our sport on front pages and that’s what is really important,” he said. — PTI