Nagal, Gaston to feature in sixth Tennis Premier League in Mumbai from December 3-8

Ace Indian player Sumit Nagal and France’s Hugo Gaston will be the main attractions in the men’s category of the sixth Tennis Premier League (TPL) to be held here from December 3-8.

Poland’s Magda Linette, who is ranked 41st in the world, and Armenia’s world No 52 Elina Avanesyan, will headline the women’s category in the tournament which will be held at the Cricket Club of India.

The tournament will be played in a 25-point format in which each franchise will play a total of five matches to make the semifinals.

The matches between two franchises will include men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles and men’s doubles as there will be a total of 100 points at stake with each category carrying 25 points.

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“Each team will play a total of 500 points (100 points x 5 matches) at the league stage and the top four teams in the points table to qualify for the semi-finals,” the organisers said in a release on Tuesday.

A total of seven franchises, PBG Pune Jaguars, Bengal Wizards, Punjab Patriots, Hyderabad Strikers, Gujarat Panthers, Mumbai Leon Army and defending champions Bengaluru SG Pipers will vie for top honours.

In order to discover and monitor young players, the organisers said TPL has tied up with Gujarat State Tennis Association (GSTA), Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) and Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) for conducting district ranking tournaments apart from introducing their own mobile app.

“Over 100 academies have been affiliated with TPL app from various regions of India. It connects the tennis community across India and allows them to compete with each other and helps the tennis players to track their progress,” it added.