Finals of the inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra will be played today (5 pm) at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium. Singles final would be followed by Doubles and we are sure there will be no less excitement in both matches.
In Singles, we have Gilles Simon taking on Kevin Anderson. Gilles Simon has played some superb tennis in the tournament so far, beating his first three opponents in straight sets. He came back to win the semi-finals after being a set down against top seed, Cilic, which tells a lot about his temperament.
Kevin Anderson got a bye in his first round match and defeated Thiago Monteiro in straight sets before beating Mikhail Kukushkin after being one set down. In the semis too, Anderson lost the first set against Benoit Paire, but came back and won the remaining sets to advance into the finals. With both players in red-hot form, this one promises to be a crackerjack.
In Doubles, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Gilles Simon continued their terrific run and will meet Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop at the Centre Court.
Herbert and Simon fought hard in their first round beating Jonathan Erlich and Kevin Anderson (3-6, 6-3, 10-5) and won in straight sets against Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Rohan Bopanna. Even against Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan in the semi-finals, the French duo played their best Tennis and won the game in straight sets (6-4, 7-6).
Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop had a shaky start to their tournament as they lost the first set to Kadhe and Paire but recovered well to win the match in Super Tie-breaker. They went over Adil Shamasdin and Neal Skupski in straight sets to secure a berth in the semis where they faced an in-form pair of Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely, and totally outplayed them with a score of 6-2, 6-4 to easily progress to the final.
With the titles just one step away, each player will give his all and Punekars are definitely in for a treat. All matches played on Centre Court are being live streamed on Tata Open Maharashtra's Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/maharashtraopen
